14 November 2019

Ten tremendous feats of 2019: The best records that have been broken in women's sport this year

There have been a great number of momentous records broken by female sports stars so far in 2019.

Here we are going to look at some of those truly special feats which have made this year so special.

And we start with a woman who recently made an inspirational speech promoting women's sport, Claressa Shields.

Claressa Shields becomes undisputed middleweight champion

Shields is one of the most high-profile female boxers on the planet (PA Images)

Claressa Shields made history in April of this year when she defeated Christina Hammer by unanimous decision to claim the fourth and final belt in the middleweight division.

It is the first time all the governing bodies titles have been held by the same woman in the 160 pound division as the 24-year-old added to her gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

The American was set to fight for a world title in a third weight class in October, but the bout was cancelled when her brother attacked her opponent's trainer Ivana Habazin.

Simone Biles is a 19-time gold medalist at the world championships

Biles is now the most decorated gymnast of all-time (PA Images)

Simone Biles broke Vitaly Scherbo's medal record as she claimed her 25th at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships this year, 19 of are gold.

The 22-year-old won five separate disciplines at the 2019 competition in Stuttgart - the all-around, the vault, the balance beam, the floor exercise and the team events.

She will now enter the Tokyo 2020 Games hoping to add to her four gold medals from Rio which she won aged 19.

Sifan Hassan does remarkable double

Sifan Hassan's success this year has sparked a lot of debate (PA Images)

One of the more controversial record breaking moments of 2019 came when Sifan Hassan did the double in the 1500m and 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships.

The feat was mired in outrage because of the athlete's association with disgraced former trainer Alberto Salazar.

After doing the double, she told BBC Sport: "I've been clean all my life. I work hard. I couldn't talk to anyone. I just ran all out. I just want to show people that hard work can be better than everything."

Manchester City vs Manchester United sets record WSL attendance

Manchester City are looking to recapture the WSL title which was won by Arsenal back in May (PA Images)

Despite only being in November, the total attendance for all Women's Super League matches this season has already surpassed that for the whole of the 2018/19 campaign.

Much of that increase came in the opening weekend derby clash between Manchester rivals City and United - the first time the two sides had ever met.

The official attendance, which was registered as more than 31,000, saw City beat their newly-promoted neighbours 1-0 thanks to a beautiful early strike from Caroline Weir.

Jin Young Ko's 114 hole bogeyless run

Jin Young Ko went on an unprecedented run this year (PA Images)

Jin Young Ko's incredible feat came to an end in August after going 114 holes without hitting a single bogey.

The South Korean surpassed Tiger Woods' record which he set of 110 bogey-free holes back in 2000.

It was a three-foot putt which saw Ko's streak end, but part of her admitted she was glad it was over.

She said: "I'm free. I can focus more on my shot and don't have to think about 'oh, bogey, bogey, no'."

Australia's incredible ODI winning streak

Australia established themselves as unquestionably the best one-day side in the world with their performances this year (PA Images)

Australia's dominant 3-0 victory in their one-day international series with Sri Lanka looked fairly routine on the face of it.

But the third and final win was actually record-breaking in women's cricket.

It was their 18th successive ODI victory, a run that stretches back nearly two years and breaks their own previous record of 17 consecutive wins back in the 1990s.

In 2020, they will have the chance to break their men's record of 23 wins in a row.

Brigid Kosgei smashes Paula Radcliffe's marathon time

Brigid Kosgei broke the women's world record for the marathon earlier this year (PA Images)

Following Eliud Kipchoge's sub two-hour marathon just 24 hours prior, Brigid Kosgei smashed the women's record for 26.2 miles by more than a minute.

The Kenyan crushed Paula Radcliffe's previous time of 2:15:25 as she finished in 2:14:04 in Chicago.

It put an end to the Briton's 16-year long reign as the fastest ever marathon runner as Kosgei wrote her name into the history books with one of the greatest running performances of all time.

Dina Asher-Smith gives Britain its first world sprint title

Dina Asher-Smith made sprinting history for Great Britain in Doha (PA Images)

Dina Asher-Smith's performance in the 100m would have been enough to capture British hearts as she won silver behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

But her dominant display in the 200m eclipsed that as she clinched GB's first world sprinting gold medal in the nation's history.

She now goes into the Olympics next year as one of the favourites for both the 100m and 200m with the knowledge that an unprecedented double would be one of the very greatest sporting achievements by a British athlete.

USA win fourth Women's World Cup

Megan Rapinoe lifted the World Cup after scoring six goals in the tournament (PA Images)

Not only did the USA become the second team ever after Germany to retain the Women's World Cup this summer, they also made history as the first side to win the tournament four times.

Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan spearheaded their side to a scintillating summer of world class football which ended with a fine 2-0 win over The Netherlands in the final.

Coach Jill Ellis bidded farewell to the national team in 2019 after back-to-back World Cup victories as the US now look for what would be an unparalleled third consecutive title in 2023.

Dalilah Muhammad breaks 400m hurdles world record

Dalilah Muhammad galloped her way to the 400m hurdles world record in Doha (PA Images)

Quite remarkably the women's 400m hurdles world record was broken not once but twice this year by Dalilah Muhammad.

Initially, the 29-year-old broke Yuliya Pechonkina's time which was set back in 2003 by 0.14 seconds as she won in July with a time of 52.20 seconds.

And she improved on that at the World Athletics Championships in Doha when she got the better of fellow American Sydney McLaughlin in a sensational time of 52.16.

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