Top 100 sporting moments of 2023: 10-1

From World Cups in rugby union, women's football, cricket and netball to rarely-seen feats in darts, formula 1 and MMA, the past year has contained thrills and spills to keep any sports fan entertained, regardless of what they are interested in.

GOATs have been crowned, sporting perfection has been achieved and a plethora of prestigious honours and trophies have been hoisted aloft.

Here, Sports Mole takes on the sizeable task of narrowing the last 365 days down to the 100 greatest sporting moments from across the spectrum, based on a ranking system which takes into account prestige, drama, history, newsworthiness, quality and importance.

So sit back and raise a glass to another historic year of sport with the conclusive list of the 100 greatest moments, culminating with the top 10.

Top sporting moments of 2023: 100-91

Top sporting moments of 2023: 90-81

Top sporting moments of 2023: 80-71

Top sporting moments of 2023: 70-61

Top sporting moments of 2023: 60-51

Top sporting moments of 2023: 50-41

Top sporting moments of 2023: 40-31

Top sporting moments of 2023: 30-21

Top sporting moments of 2023: 20-11

10. Antwerp win first title for 66 years with last kick of the season (June 4)

Winning a league title is special. Doing it for the first time in 66 years is even better. But to do it with virtually the last kick of the season - and for the crucial goal to be a wondergoal from a hometown boy - is the stuff of dreams.

Antwerp enjoyed their own 'Aguero moment' at the end of the 2022-23 campaign, although their wait had been longer than Man City's, their competition had been from two teams instead of one, and the closing stages of the season were arguably even more dramatic.

Heading into the final day, the top three teams were separated by just one point, and two of those - Genk and Antwerp - faced each other in Genk to make matters even more mouth-watering.

There was more than one fairytale story on the line too, and up until the 89th minute it looked as though Union SG would be crowned champions for the first time in 88 years, having only ended a 48-year absence from the top flight in 2021.

Antwerp looked out of contention at that stage, with Genk winning their match 2-1 and Union 1-0 up against Club Brugge, meaning that even Brugge's 89th-minute equaliser only succeeded in putting Genk into top spot heading into stoppage time.

However, despite Union having been set for the title in the 89th minute, and then Genk being on course for it in the 90th minute, it was Antwerp who got the final say to wrap up the season in sensational fashion.

Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld, who had returned to his boyhood club the previous summer to end his career as he had always promised he would, produced a 94th-minute thunderbolt into the top corner from outside the area to level things up at 2-2 against Genk, lifting Antwerp back above their opponents into top spot, which had incredibly changed hands three times in the closing minutes of the season.

Union went on to suffer a stoppage-time collapse and lose 3-1 to Brugge, although that was ultimately irrelevant as Antwerp were left to celebrate their first top-flight title since 1956-57 in scarcely believable style.

9. Kelvin Kiptum smashes marathon world record (October 8)

In November 2022, Kelvin Kiptum had never run a marathon; 11 months later, he ran the fastest marathon in history, shattering the previous record with an astonishing performance in Chicago.

The Kenyan had already triumphed on his marathon debut in December and then set a new course record when winning the London marathon, but his third win from three races over the distance saw him scale new heights.

Kiptum crossed the line in 2:00.35, shaving an incredible 34 seconds off the previous record which Eliud Kipchoge set in Berlin in September 2022, some three months before Kiptum's first marathon.

In addition to breaking the world record, Kiptum's feat also saw the sub-two hour marathon achievement edge that bit closer as he became the first person to dip within a minute of that mythical mark.

8. Simone Biles becomes most decorated gymnast in history (October 6)

Simone Biles was already firmly in the conversation of the greatest ever gymnasts heading into the World Championships in Antwerp, where she further underlined her credentials by making yet more history.

After two years away from the sport to focus on her mental health, the American showed no sign of rust to help USA to a record seventh consecutive team title before taking the individual gold with a score of 58.399 in the all-around event.

That second gold of the competition took her tally of total world and Olympic medals to an incredible 34 - more than any other gymnast in history, male or female.

It was also a sixth all-around world title, a 21st World Championship gold and a 27th world medal in total, with more to come over the remainder of the competition too.

Biles held off the challenge of defending champion Rebeca Andrade (56.766) and compatriot Shilese Jones (56.332), who took silver and bronze respectively.

7. Spain beat England to win Women's World Cup (August 20)

A brand new name was guaranteed to be etched on the Women's World Cup trophy before a ball was kicked in the final in Sydney, as England took on Spain looking to lift the nation's first world football title since 1966.

Sarina Wiegman's European champions went into the match as favourites in the eyes of many against a Spanish team that endured a tumultuous build-up to the tournament, was without many first-team players due to that build-up and had defied most pre-tournament expectations to make it to the showpiece event.

However, on the day they were clearly the better side as England produced an underwhelming display at the worst possible time, failing to land any significant blows on the Spaniards.

Captain Olga Carmona scored what proved to be the only goal of the game in the first half with a clinical finish, a strike made all the more poignant when news emerged that she was informed after the final whistle that her father had passed away earlier in the week.

It could have been even worse for England, with Mary Earps saving a Jenni Hermoso penalty, but in the end they could have few complaints as the Spanish women joined their 2010 male counterparts as World Cup winners.

6. The greatest leg of darts ever played (January 3)

The world title and world number one were both on the line as arguably the two best players of 2022 met in the World Championship final at Alexandra Palace.

Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen served up a classic too, playing out one of the greatest finals of all time including the greatest leg of darts ever seen.

That came in the second set when both players were on for nine-darters, with Van Gerwen hitting eight perfect darts before missing double 12 to allow Smith the chance to achieve the holy grail himself.

Smith made no mistake to record only the second-ever perfect leg in a World Championship final, joining Adrian Lewis from 2011 in that exclusive and coveted club, and sending commentator Wayne Mardle into such a frenzy that he "couldn't spake" - literally, as it turned out, as he soon had to leave his duties midway through the match having lost his voice.

The general standard of the final continued at a remarkable level for much of the remainder of the match, but Smith finally forced Van Gerwen to waver by winning four successive sets, turning a 3-2 deficit into a 6-3 lead.

Van Gerwen briefly threatened a comeback in the closing stages, but Smith held his nerve to win 7-4 and claim the biggest title in the sport for the first time in his career.

5. Max Verstappen records most dominant F1 season ever

Max Verstappen wins record 10th successive Grand Prix (September 3)

While recent Formula 1 history has been defined by periods of dominance for Red Bull and Mercedes, Max Verstappen took it to a new level in 2023.

The Dutchman had a third world title effectively sewn up long before the halfway stage of the season, and the question from that point on was just how anyone would stop him and Red Bull from winning every remaining race.

Sure enough, at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza Verstappen chalked up a staggering 10th successive Grand Prix victory, overtaking the previous record of nine that had been held by Sebastian Vettel during his Red Bull days in 2013.

Verstappen won in Miami, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Britain, Hungary, Belgium and Netherlands to set up the unprecedented perfect 10 in Italy, and despite not starting on pole, he overtook Ferrari's Carlos Sainz before cruising to yet another victory.

Max Verstappen wins third F1 world title (October 7)

Max Verstappen's dominance of the 2023 Formula 1 season made his third successive world title an inevitability from very early on in the season, but that does nothing to undermine the significance of his success.

The crowning moment came in Qatar, but unusually it happened on a Saturday as Verstappen went into the weekend's sprint race knowing that he needed only three points, or to not lose more than five points to teammate and closest challenger Sergio Perez.

That effectively meant that the world title was secured well before the end of the race as Perez span off, leaving Verstappen to enjoy a number of victory laps before actually passing the chequered flag.

The 26-year-old, who became the second-youngest driver to win his third world title, ended a chaotic sprint in second place behind first-time F1 winner Oscar Piastri, whose triumph was somewhat overshadowed by the Dutchman's greater glory.

Verstappen's win saw him become only the 11th driver to win three world titles, joining an elite group including Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.

Max Verstappen wins record 16th race of season (October 29)

The fate of the 2023 Formula 1 title had already long been decided by the time of the Mexican Grand Prix on October 29, but records were still there to be broken for the relentless Max Verstappen.