There were plenty of memorable sports moments in 2023, both in the United States and around the globe. Local champions included a mix of first-time title breakthroughs and superstars adding to their legacies, while athletes from Spain to Serbia enjoyed successful years in 2023 on the international stage. Let's take a look back at some of the top sports moments in 2023 and examine the context for those accomplishments, both on and off the field, court, pitch, rink or diamond.
January 9: Georgia defeats TCU in the College Football Playoff National Championship
Georgia laid a 65-7 smackdown on TCU at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California to win a second consecutive NCAA football championship. The Bulldogs faced much more resistance in their 42-41 semifinal win over Ohio State, while the Horned Frogs reached the championship game with a 51-45 win over Michigan.
After being crowned champions of the 2022 season in early 2023, Georgia went on to win its first 12 games of the 2023 season later in the year, pushing its winning streak to 29 games before losing to Alabama 27-24 in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 2. That loss to the Crimson Tide opened up a can of worms when it came to selecting the four College Football Playoff teams for 2023, as there were five deserving teams and only four spots. Florida State, which went undefeated against an easy ACC schedule but lost starting QB Jordan Travis to a leg injury in November, was the odd team out on Selection Day (Dec. 3, 2023). The College Football Playoff will be moving to a 12-team format starting with the 2024 season, so FSU will likely go down as the only undefeated Power Five Conference champion ever left out of the College Football Playoff.
February 12: The Chiefs defeat the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII
Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes added to his legacy with his second Super Bowl championship as the Chiefs stormed back from a 24-14 deficit to defeat the Eagles 38-35 on a 27-yard Harrison Butker field goal with eight seconds remaining. The game was played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. This marked the beginning of a highly successful 2023 for Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce on and off the field, as Kelce's brand has grown substantially since he started dating pop star Taylor Swift in September after attending one of her Eras Tour concerts in July.
April 9: Jon Rahm wins the Masters
Rahm finished 12 under par across 72 holes at Augusta National Golf Course, winning the 2023 Masters by four strokes over Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. The Spaniard, who turned 29 in November, claimed his second career major title and his first green jacket. Rahm's triumph came while debate raged over the creation of LIV Golf as a Saudi-backed alternative to the PGA Tour in 2022. The PGA Tour and LIV subsequently announced a merger on June 6, 2023, though they have yet to hash out the details. Rahm revealed later in the year that he intends to join LIV Golf in 2024.
June 12: The Nuggets defeat the Heat in the NBA Finals
Nikola Jokic finally climbed to the mountain top, and we aren't talking about the one on the Nuggets logo. After being named NBA MVP in back-to-back seasons, Jokic was snubbed on his three-peat attempt for the regular-season award but came away with something much more important from the 2022-23 NBA season: his first title. The Nuggets steamrolled through the playoffs and finished off the underdog Heat in five games in the NBA Finals, with Jokic being named Finals MVP after Denver's title-clinching 94-89 victory in Game 5.
Jokic's title was part of a successful year for athletes from the country of Serbia, which is arguably the world's best sporting nation on a per capita basis. Serbia's population of 7.1 million people includes Jokic (who also helped the national basketball team reach the FIBA World Cup Final in September), men's tennis world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, and a men's water polo team that placed fourth at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in July.
June 13: The Golden Knights defeat the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final
The sixth time was the charm for Vegas, as the Golden Knights claimed the first Stanley Cup in franchise history with a dominant 9-3 win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to win the series 4-1. After reaching the Stanley Cup Final in their first season as an expansion team in 2017-18, the Golden Knights took just five more years to win a title. This was the quickest an expansion team has gone from entering the NHL to winning the Stanley Cup, and it marked the first title in the big four American sports leagues for the city of Las Vegas.
Bigger and better things could be ahead for Sin City, as the mainstream acceptance of gambling has led to a surge in Las Vegas pro sports. The NFL's Raiders recently moved to Vegas in 2020, MLB's owners voted unanimously on Nov. 16, 2023 to move the Athletics to Vegas, and the NBA held the semifinals and final of its first In-Season Tournament in Vegas on Dec. 7 and 9, 2023.
July 16: Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon Final
After a disappointing French Open semifinal encounter in which Alcaraz cramped against Djokovic, the 20-year-old Spaniard earned redemption with a thrilling five-set win over the Serbian legend, which lasted four hours and 42 minutes. Alcaraz claimed his second Grand Slam title and first Wimbledon title, ending Djokovic's 34-match Wimbledon winning streak with the 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win. While King Charles didn't attend Wimbledon in the first year of his reign in 2023, his wife Queen Camilla was spotted at the event, marking her first time in Wimbledon's Royal Box since attaining the title of Queen.
August 20: Spain defeats England in the FIFA Women's World Cup Final
Olga Carmona scored the game's only goal in the 29th minute against England to propel Spain to its first FIFA Women's World Cup title in Sydney, Australia. Spain's 1-0 win in the championship game came five days after a 2-1 semifinal victory over third-place Sweden, who knocked out the United States on penalty kicks in the Round of 16. It was a widely panned performance from the USWNT, who came in with hopes of being the first team ever to claim a three peat at the World Cup, but instead failed to reach the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time since the 2016 Olympics.
November 1: The Rangers defeat the Diamondbacks in the World Series
In yet another five-game championship series of a major American sports league in 2023, the Rangers took home the first World Series title in franchise history by ending the Diamondbacks' Cinderella run. Texas clinched its championship in style with a 5-0 shutout victory over Arizona in Game 5. Former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was named World Series MVP, marking the second time in his career that he won the award. More Texans than ever got to celebrate the Rangers' victory, as Texas led the United States in population growth in 2023, adding nearly half a million people.
