2018 British Sporting Champions thread

[Shireblogger]

TAI WOFFINDEN


Tai Woffinden is 2018's World Speedway Champion, having won the 10 event series which visits Poland (3 times), Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden (twice), Slovenia, Germany and Britain (Cardiff). He won four of the rounds, came 2nd once, 3rd once and 4th twice, winning the championship by a margin of 10 points (equivalent to one 4th place finish).

Born in Scunthorpe in 1990, Woffinden was World Champion in 2013 and 2015 as well. His home club is Sparta Wroclaw, having chosen to base himself in Poland where speedway is strongest. (Poland have won 8 of the past 14 Speedway World Cups, during which period GB has finished runner-up twice and 3rd once, with Woffinden captaining Britain both times they finished second).

[Shireblogger]

CANOE SLALOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS


Britain finished top of the medals table at the 2018 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, held at the end of September in Rio. GB was 3rd in the table in 2017.

Medallists

GOLD: Kayak K1 Men's Team: Joe Clarke, Bradley Forbes-Cryans, Chris Bowers

GOLD: Canoe C1 Women's Team: Mallory Franklin, Kimberley Woods, Bethan Forrow

SILVER: Canoe C1 Men: Ryan Westley

SILVER: Canoe C1 Women: Mallory Franklin

SILVER: Kayak K1 Women: Mallory Franklin

BRONZE: Canoe C1 Men's Team: David Florence, Ryan Westley, Adam Burgess

BRONZE: Kayak K1 Women's Team: Mallory Franklin, Fiona Pennie, Kimberley Woods


So Mallory Franklin returned from Rio with 1 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, to add to her haul at previous World Championships of 2 golds and 2 silvers. She also won the 2016 World Cup (C1), and has 8 European Championship medals. Controversially, there was only one Women's Slalom event at the Rio Olympics (K1 class), compared to 3 Men's events, which meant that she didn't have the chance to compete there. But Mallory is still only 24 years old, and as K1 World Championships runner-up, surely she'll get an opportunity in Tokyo ?

[Shireblogger]

LUCY CHARLES & DAVID McNAMEE


The Iron Man Triathlon World Championships, held annually in Hawaii.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept:-
swim 2.4 miles (3.9km) in the sea
cycle 112 miles (180km) across a desert
run a marathon of 26.2 miles (42km) along the coast

In 2018 Lucy Charles finished 2nd for the 2nd year in a row, in the Women's event, in a time of 8 hours 36 minutes & 32 seconds - the second fastest time ever over that course. She is 25 years old and from London, and was Iron Man World Champion in the 18-24 age category in 2015. GB women's recent record in the Iron Man World Championships is strong, with 14 podiums in the past 12 years, including 4 victories by Chrissie Wellington (OBE) and 1 win and 1 third by Leanda Cave.

David McNamee finished 3rd for the 2nd consecutive year in the Men's event, in a time of 7:56:41, thus becoming just the 3rd person ever to complete the course in under 8 hours. He is the only British male medallist in the 40 year history of the competition.

[paulgilb]

David McNamee finished 3rd for the 2nd consecutive year in the Men's event, in a time of 7:56:41, thus becoming just the 3rd person ever to complete the course in under 8 hours.

According to Wikipedia, his time was 8:01:09. 7:56:41 was the time for 2nd place.

[Shireblogger]

LEWIS HAMILTON


Clinched motor racing's Formula 1 World Championship yesterday, by finishing 4th in the Mexican Grand Prix. This is Hamilton's 5th world title, putting him joint second on the all-time list, level with Juan-Manuel Fangio (Argentina), and behind only Michael Schumacher (Germany).

In many ways, his 2018 title is the most impressive. His Mercedes car was not obviously the fastest at many of the races this season, thus negating much of the technical superiority he had enjoyed in other years. And so he had a genuine rival from another team, in the shape of 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel (Germany) at Ferrari. But Hamilton had an almost faultless season, demonstrating real maturity at last, whilst Vettel made a series of catastrophic errors which destroyed his chances. And the Mercedes team often outscored the Ferrari team in the strategic battles, proving that Formula 1 is a real team sport.

Hamilton isn't everyone's cup of tea. He lives the life of an A-list Hollywood celebrity, enjoying the company of rappers, and taking a keen interest in the exploitation of his name as a fashion brand. But, in my opinion, 2018 has shown that he is unquestionably the best driver of his generation.

He will celebrate his 34th birthday before the start of next season. Nigel Mansell won his only World Championship aged 39. With Hamilton contracted with Mercedes for the next 2 years, there is every chance that he could equal, and even surpass, Schumacher's record as the most successful racing driver in history. Not bad for a black kid from a broken home in Stevenage whose father took multiple jobs with anti-social hours to fund his early career.

[Shireblogger]

JONATHAN REA


World Superbike Champion for the 4th consecutive year. The 31 year-old from Ballyclare in County Antrim rides for Kawasaki. He was runner-up in the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Rea totally dominated the 2018 season, winning 17 of the 25 races, including all of the final 11 races. His 545 points meant he took the title by a massive 189 points. He also took fastest lap 14 times.

The runner-up was another Brit, CHAZ DAVIES. From Knighton in Powys, Davies currently rides for Ducati. He won 2 races in 2018, and was 2nd in another 6. Davies claimed 3 fastest laps.

TOM SYKES from Huddersfield was 4th in the 2018 Championship, also riding for the Kawasaki team. And ALEX LOWES, from Lincoln finished 6th on a Yamaha. Both Sykes and Lowes won 1 race, whist Sykes also had 2 fastest laps.

[Shireblogger]

CHARLIE APPLEBY


For the 1st time, a British-trained racehorse has won the Melbourne Cup. The Southern Hemisphere's most prestigious race, with a £4m prize pot, has been run 158 times since 1861. British-trained horses had previously finished 2nd on 8 occasions, but this was the first triumph.

The winning horse was Cross Counter, trained by Charlie Appleby. Based at the Emirates-sponsored Godolphin stables in Newmarket, 43 year-old Appleby also trained the winner of the 2018 Derby, Masar. He started out as a stable boy at Godolphin, and was promoted to trainer in 2013 in the wake of a doping scandal which cleaned out most of the stable's big names.

British trainers completed a clean sweep of the paying places at the 2018 Melbourne Cup, with Marmelo (trained by Hughie Morrison) and A Prince Of Arran (Charlie Fellowes) coming home 2nd and 3rd.

[Shireblogger]

WOMEN'S T20 CRICKET TEAM


England were World Cup Runners-Up for the 3rd time, having won the very first T20 tournament in 2009. Hosted by Sri Lanka, England beat Bangladesh and South Africa to qualify from the group. They then beat India in a one-sided Semi-Final, but fell quite a long way short in the Final versus Australia.

Amy Jones was England's top scorer with 107 runs at a strike rate of 114, with Natalie Scriver the only other batter to score more than 50 in a match.

Kirstie Gordon, Anya Shrubsole and Sophie Ecclestone all took 5 wickets or more, but Natalie Scriver was the most economical bowler, averaging just 3.7 runs per over.

[paulgilb]

Hosted by Sri Lanka, England beat Bangladesh and South Africa to qualify from the group.

It was hosted in the West Indies, not Sri Lanka.

[Shireblogger]

GEORGIA DAVIES


The final entry in 2018's impressive list of world class sports people is swimmer Georgia Davies. On 12th December she won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke at the World Short-Course Championships - i.e. swimming in a 25m pool. The event was staged in Huangzhou, China, and she was Britain's only medallist in a competition dominated by the USA.

Born in London, 28 year-old Davies competes for Wales in the Commonwealth Games, at which she has 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. She also has a World Championship bronze and several European Championship medals.