Cavendish confirmed his postition as one of the world’s fastest sprinters and earned comparisons with some of the greats in Tour de France history after winning five stages in this year’s event. He missed out on the green jersey, finishing second in the points classification but his wins on this year’s Tour, adding to his performances in 2008 and 2009, ensured he equalled the achievements of the Belgian Freddy Maertens, who won 15 stages between 1976 and 1981 Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian
Daley, the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year winner in 2007 and 2009, finished this year on a high, winning double gold in Delhi at the Commonwealth Games in the synchro and individual 10m platform events. Significantly, in the latter, the 16-year-old defeated the Olympic champion, Australia’s Matthew Mitcham Photograph: John Giles/PA
Ennis continued where she left off in 2009, adding world indoor and European Championships gold to the outdoor world title she won the previous year. Ennis’s points tally broke the championship records at both the world indoors and the Europeans. The 24-year-old also captained Great Britain at the Europeans in Barcelona Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
The Hayemaker defended his WBA heavyweight title in March against John Ruiz in Manchester, putting the American down four times before the fight was stopped in the ninth round. While a much-desired unification fight against one of the Klitschko brothers has, as yet, not materialised, Haye went on to defeat the former Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison in November, ending the fight within three rounds Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian
After riding more than 3,000 winners in a career spanning 18 years, Tony McCoy finally landed the race that had eluded him, the Grand National. At the 15th time of asking, he rode Don’t Push It to victory at Aintree and was named Champion Jockey for the 2009/10 season – for the 15th time in succession – having won more races than any other jockey Photograph: Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images
The Northern Irishman was the shock champion at this year’s US Open, becoming the first European since Tony Jacklin 30 years ago to achieve the feat. He followed this by winning the decisive final match in the Ryder Cup to ensure Europe triumphed. McDowell also went into the final European tour event of the season, the Dubai World Championship, lying second in the Order of Merit, and finished just behind Martin Kaymer in the Race to Dubai Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
The spinner has already been named ECB cricketer of the year, been nominated for the ICC world cricketer of the year awards and been named in the ICC world Test XI for 2010. Building on his performances in last year’s Ashes and South Africa tour, Swann took 10 wickets in the first Test against Bangladesh in March and was a key member of the side that saw England triumph in the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in May Photograph: Philip Brown/Reuters
2010 was another glorious year for Phil 'The Power' Taylor. He started the year by winning the World Darts Championships in January, defeating Simon Whitlock 7-3 in the final. Taylor followed this win with victory in the Premier League Darts tournament, where two nine-dart finishes in the final game helped him achieve victory Photograph: John Gichigi/Getty Images
Westwood achieved the unthinkable this year when he knocked Tiger Woods off the top of the world rankings. A major championship continued to elude him though, not helped by a leg injury over the summer, but he finished second in both the British Open and US Masters Photograph: Ali Haider/EPA
Williams became the first Briton in 30 years to win a Winter Olympic individual gold medal when she triumphed at the Vancouver Games in February in the skeleton bob. Having set a track record in her first run of 53.83sec, Williams never let the lead slip and her success was only the ninth time a British athlete has won a gold medal in winter Olympic history Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
