2016, what a year it’s been. Our most successful foreign Games of all time and countless memorable moments besides.
So as we approach 2017, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the highlights from the past 12 months.
It was a familiar tale for Andy Murray at the Australian Open, as he fell at the final hurdle to the then-world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
No such problems for his brother, though, as Jamie won his first men’s doubles Grand Slam title – not a bad start for his new partnership with Bruno Soares!
And there was further success in the women’s singles as Johanna Konta started her assault on the top ten rankings places with a semi-final spot in Melbourne.
Elsewhere there was a World Cup skeleton bronze for Laura Deas in Lake Placid while Great Britain topped the medal table at the European Short Track Championships, with Elise Christie winning four gold medals and Charlotte Gilmartin one, as the team came home with seven medals in all.
And in Hong Kong there was World Cup success for our track cyclists, as Laura Trott took omnium gold, with the men’s team sprint trio also victorious.
Success continued on the ice in February as Christie took World Cup golds in Dresden and Dordrecht, but Lamin Deen and his four-man bobsleigh crew missed out on a World Championship medal after crashing out on the third run while sitting in fourth.
From ice to tarmac and Lizzie Armitstead (as she was then) won the Het Nieuwsblad classic in Belgium, while Mark Cavendish took the Tour of Qatar title in slightly warmer climes.
In Glasgow Mo Farah began his year with 3,000m victory at the Indoor Grand Prix, while in Sheffield James Dasaolu and Asha Philip won the sprint titles at the national indoor championships.
Our men’s foil team also secured their place at Rio 2016, but Britain’s Fed Cup team missed out on the World Group II Play-Offs after losing to Belgium at the final hurdle.
Katie Ormerod also made history by finishing second in the snowboard big air event in Canada, while our young Olympians finished 14th at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, in Lillehammer, with two gold medals and two bronze.
The third month of the year was all about the bike, as Armitstead continued her early season form with wins at Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, as well as Geraint Thomas taking a first Paris-Nice title.
And on the track there was more success as Great Britain topped the World Championships medal table with five golds, including men’s sprint, points race and Madison titles, as well as women’s omnium and scratch race victories.
In the Davis Cup Great Britain began their defence with a hard-fought win over Japan, and Jodie Stimpson began the triathlon season on fire with victory in Abu Dhabi.
There was also surprise success in the Team Table Tennis World Championships as England took bronze in their first season at the top level, while Christie also took overall bronze at the short track World Championships.
At the World Indoor Athletics Championships Great Britain won three medals, with Robbie Grabarz taking high jump silver, while Tiffany Porter and Lorraine Ugen took bronze in the 100m hurdles and long jump.
While there was more World Cup success on the snow as Jamie Nicholls became the first British male to win slopestyle gold, in the Czech Republic.
And in Glasgow Max Whitlock took Gymnastics World Cup gold, with Daniel Purvis and Claudia Fragapane also winning bronze.
The month began with Jamie Murray beating his brother to the top of the world rankings, as he became the No.1 ranked doubles player in the world, on April 4.
Armitstead then crowned a winning spring with victory at the Tour of Flanders, while Ian Stannard finished third at Paris-Roubaix.
From two wheels to two legs, two wheels and some water, Jonny Brownlee took triathlon World Series bronze on the Gold Coast, while Helen Jenkins won gold and Non Stanford finished first in Cape Town.
Jamie Cooke took modern pentathlon World Cup gold in Hungary, and on the water Alison Young won World Championship gold in the Laser Radial class.
At the British Swimming Championships Adam Peaty showed what was to come with a comfortable 100m breaststroke victory, while Jazz Carlin officially booked her Rio spot with 400m freestyle victory in her final event of the week.
In the European Weightlifting Championships there were promising bronze medal showings for Rebekah Tiler in the 69kg class, while Mercy Brown also finished third in the +75kg category.
Britain dominated home waters in May as they topped the medal table at the European Aquatics Championships, winning ten gold medals, 11 silver and 12 bronze.
Seven of those golds came in the swimming pool, with Peaty winning two individual golds and one relay gold, while Fran Halsall took 50m backstroke victory, with a further two relay wins for home swimmers.
And in the diving pool there were three more successes, with Jack Laugher and Chris Mears taking the 3m synchro springboard title, before doing the same in Rio.
In Spain Andy Murray was beaten in the Madrid Masters final, before winning in Rome, while Giles Scott won the world Finn title and Nicola Adams won the World Championships to take the only honour missing from her impressive boxing CV.
And there were more European Championships across the continent, with England winning two badminton bronze medals and Scotland a silver, while in taekwondo Great Britain topped the medal table with three golds.
In gymnastics a Max Whitlock-less British men’s team won one gold and two silvers in Switzerland, while in the junior competition Britain topped the table with four golds.
It was the women’s turn to take the European gymnastics stage in June, with the Great Britain team returning from Switzerland with a gold and three silver medals.
And in further European Championship action Liam Heath won K1 200m gold in Moscow, while Britain topped the continental rowing medal table with seven in total, including four golds.
On the tennis courts of Europe Andy Murray reached a first French Open final, but fell once again to Djokovic, before making history by winning a record fifth Queen’s Club title in London.
Still in Britain, Armitstead returned from a pre-Olympic training block to win the Women’s Tour, while across the channel in France, Chris Froome took a third Criterium du Dauphine title.
In Leeds Alistair led a Brownlee one-two in the World Triathlon Series event, with Vicky Holland taking third in the women’s race.
And in London there was no sign of what was to come as Great Britain’s women’s hockey team finished fifth of six sides at the Champions Trophy, while the men finished fourth.
At the British Athletics Championships it was a carbon copy of the indoor results as Dasaolu and Philip won the 100m titles, booking their place in Rio, while Andrew Butchart romped to a 5,000m title and Elliot Giles completed a remarkable comeback from a motorbike crash to win the 800m.
Sportsbeat 2016