Event of the Year: 2025 saw another wildly successful Betway SA20, the emergence of Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Matt Breetzke adding to the fun and the fury.
Solid as a rock: Gavin Hunt coaching his 1000th PSL game. Marvellous.
Quiet achiever: Andy Birkett winning his 15th Dusi Canoe Marathon.
Exit stage left: Steven Kitshoff retiring as he played: with dignity and little fuss.
Come again: Dale Whitnell scoring two holes in one at the SA Open, with Dylan Naidoo becoming the first player of colour to win the championship.
March madness: Bayanda Walaza becoming the first SA 18-year-old to run a sub-10-sec 100m, Prudence Sekgodiso winning the world 800m indoor title and the SA men storming to the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m titles at the World Athletics Relays in China.
Green shoots: SA winning the Afcon u-20 crown, no small achievement given the state of the local game.
Deltoids and deadlifts: Little-known Rayno Nel winning the World’s Strongest Man title.
Acing the Test: Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Kagiso Rabada were the heroes in SA’s biggest-ever red-ball match, trumping Australia for the World Test Championship. Not long after, the Proteas clinched a fifth ODI series victory in a row for SA versus Australia. To close out the year, a series victory against India confirmed a wonderful 12 months.
Mulder maxes out: Wiaan Mulder’s unbeaten 367 against Zimbabwe in July set South Africa’s highest Test score, fifth overall, second-fastest triple-century, before declaring at 626/5 to prioritise victory and honour Brian Lara’s 400*.
Top team: SA’s u20s winning the world rugby championship.
Fast legs: South African athlete Sibusiso “Sbu” Kubheka (pictured) making history by becoming the first human to run 100km in under six hours, clocking an astonishing 5:59:20 at the adidas “Chasing 100” event in Italy.
Big aims, big gains: The Springbok women’s team progressing to the Women’s Rugby World Cup play-offs for the first time in history.
Goalgetter: Peter Shalulile writing his name into South African football folklore becoming the Premier Soccer League’s all-time leading goal scorer, passing Siyabonga Nomvethe’s mark of 129.
Fight of the Year: Brandon Thysse and Shervantaigh Koopman taking it to the gutter in their memorable junior middleweight dust-up, a triumph for grit and guts.
Performance of the Year: Springboks 43 New Zealand 10. Stupendous by any measure.
Individual Performance of the Year: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s 37 points against Argentina, a SA record.
Hot Wheels: Alan Hatherly winning the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championship.
Long time coming: Bafana Bafana qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, despite having points docked. Indefatigable coach Hugo Broos easily SA football’s man of the year.
Non-event of the Year: The Cape Town Marathon, blown apart by the winds and thousands of unhappy runners.
Innings of 2025: For magisterial impact, Laura Wolvaardt’s 100 in the World Cup semifinal against England.
Big man, big number: Siya Kolisi becoming a Test centurion, against France.
