Susan Egelstaff: My most memorable moments from Scottish sport in 2024

Here’s my most memorable moments of the past twelve months.

-Andy Murray retiring

It’s impossible to overstate the impact Andy Murray has had not just on the tennis world but on British and Scottish sport as a whole.

He is, in my opinion, Scotland’s greatest-ever sportsperson and, for almost two decades, has produced some of Scotland’s most thrilling sporting occasions. 

Murray had been plagued by injury over the past few years, with the Dunblane native able to produce only glimpses of anything close to his previous best and 2024 saw him, finally, hang up his racquet for good.

His final competitive appearance, in the men’s doubles at the Paris Olympics, may not have ended with a medal but it was a fittingly dramatic and emotional finale to a remarkable career.

-Jasmin Paris finishing the Barkley Marathons

(Image: Jacob Zocherman) Ultra-running may not typically generate reams of news coverage but Jasmin Paris, and her history-making run at The Barclay Marathons became global news.

The Edinburgh vet became the first woman ever to finish what is widely described as the world’s toughest ultramarathon, covering the 100 miles just two minutes inside the 60-hour time-limit. In doing so, she became one of only 22 people, and the only woman, to have completed the race since its inception in 1986.

Her feat saw her labelled “an inspiration to women around the world”, and it’s impossible to disagree.

-Chris Hoy announcing he has cancer

(Image: .) With six Olympic gold medals, Chris Hoy is Scotland’s most decorated Olympian and so when he announced in February he had cancer there was, naively, a general assumption from the wider public that given he’s one of this country’s greatest-ever athletes, he’d recover from this most horrible of diseases.

How wrong that assumption was.

In October, 48-year-old Hoy revealed his cancer was terminal, and he’s been given only 2-4 years to live.

It’s hard to think of many sadder stories to have emerged this year.

-Glasgow being awarded the 2026 Commonwealth Games

It’s been no secret how much of a struggle it’s been to find a host for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with prospective host cities dropping out left, right and centre over the past few years.

This year saw, finally, some positive news for the event, with Glasgow being confirmed as host.

12 years after the triumph that was Glasgow 2014, the Commonwealth Games will return to the city but it will look very different to those Games of ten years ago.

In 2026, only ten sports will be on the programme, with only four venues used. And with a budget of just £130 million, it will be a very much scaled-down event.

Glasgow stepping in has, however, secured the future of the Commonwealth Games, at least in the short-term.

-Glasgow Warriors winning the URC title

(Image: Getty) At half-time and 13-0 down in the URC final, it appeared that Glasgow Warriors’ chance of getting their hands on the trophy seemed to have disappeared.

But a storming second half display saw Franco Smith’s side defeat the hot favourites, the Bulls, 21-16 in Pretoria in a final for the ages, with Warriors lifting their first major trophy for almost a decade.

-Eilish McColgan and Megan Keith at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Almost always, sporting highlights feature medal-winning moments but in Eilish McColgan and Megan Keith, 2024 provided a welcome reminder that sport is about more than just winning.

McColgan is a seasoned professional while Keith was making her Olympic debut in Paris.

In the 10,000m final, Keith ultimately trailed-in nearly three minutes behind the winner having completed much of the race alone in last place.

However, McColgan’s gesture to wait on the track for several minutes to embrace her teammate when she finally crossed the line was not only a mark of McColgan’s character but also a reminder that sport isn’t just about winning.

-Bob MacIntyre’s run of form

(Image: PA) It’s been quite some time since Scotland has had a regular winner at golf’s biggest tournaments but earlier this summer, Bob MacIntyre reminded us all what it’s like to be watching the sharp end of the leaderboard.

By winning the Canadian Open in June and the Scottish Open just a few weeks later, MacIntyre injected a dose of optimism which has been increasingly rare within Scottish golf in the past decade.

His hugely successful summer sees him finish the year placed 15th in the world rankings. 

-Josh Kerr’s Olympic silver medal

The men’s 1500m final was touted as the athletics event to watch at the Paris Olympics, with the Josh Kerr-Jakob Ingebrigtsen rivalry injecting an excitement into the sport that’s been sadly missing of late.

However, neither Kerr nor Ingebrigtsen departed Paris with 1500m gold, with American Cole Hocker instead producing one of the biggest surprises in recent memory to become Olympic 1500m champion in what was one of the most thrilling events of the Olympic Games.

-Katie Archibald’s broken ankle

(Image: Getty) Sport, as we all have witnessed, can be cruel.

Rarely has there been a more marked example than that which confronted Katie Archibald this year.

Having already won two Olympic gold medals, she was planning on going for her hat-trick at Paris 2024.

However, just weeks before the Games began, an innocuous fall in her garden resulted in a seriously broken ankle, ensuring she would miss the Olympic Games and watch her teammates from her sofa.

For someone who’s endured more than her fair share of tragedy in recent years, it was a bitter and unfair blow.

She returned in October to win team pursuit gold at the World Championships but this likely did little to make up for the disappointment of being forced to sit out the Olympics.

-Oscar Onley riding the Tour de France

It had been over four decades since a Scottish-developed rider rode the Tour de France.

Philippa York, riding as Robert Millar, was the last homegrown Scot to ride the world’s greatest bike race before 21-year-old Oscar Onley lined up on the startline of the 2024 edition.

The Kelso native finished in 39th place in the GC and tenth in the youth standings and it’s an experience that will stand him in good stead for the coming seasons.