1998 in sports
See also: 1997 in sports,
other events of 1998,
1999 in sports and the
list of 'years in sports'.
*
Stock car racing:
**
Dale Earnhardt won the
Daytona 500 **
NASCAR Championship -
Jeff Gordon**
NASCAR celebrates its 50th anniversary
*
Indy Racing League -
*
Indianapolis 500 -
Eddie Cheever *
CART Racing -
Alex Zanardi won the season championship
*
Formula One Championship -
Mika Häkkinen of
Finland*
24 hours of Le Mans: won by the team of
Laurent Aïello /
Allan McNish /
Stéphane Ortelli driving a
Porsche 911 GT-1 *
Rally racing -
Tommi Mäkinen won the
World Rally Championship**the team of
Carlos Sainz /
Luis Moya won the
Monte Carlo Rally driving a
Toyota Corolla WRC*
Drag racing -
Gary Scelzi won the
NHRA "
Top Fuel" championship.
*
Mark McGwire and
Sammy Sosa each chase the home run record set previously by
Roger Maris in
1961. Both men end up breaking the record; McGwire with 70 and Sosa with 66.
*
World Series:
New York Yankees win 4 games to 0 over the
San Diego Padres. The Series MVP is
Scott Brosius, New York
*
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
**Kentucky wins 78-69 over Utah
* :
**
Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the
Utah Jazz, to complete their second three-peat of the decade.
*
WNBA Finals:
**
Houston Comets win two games to one over the
Phoenix Mercury to repeat as champions.
*
FIBA World Championship**
Yugoslavia World Champion
*
June 27:
Shane Mosley stopped
Wilfrido Ruiz in the 5th round to retain the IBF Lightweight Championship.
*
Giro d'Italia won by
Marco Pantani of
Italy*
Tour de France -
Marco Pantani of
Italy*
World Cycling Championship:
Oskar Camenzind of
Switzerland*
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
**
Jeff King wins with lead dogs:
Red &
JennaWorld Competitions
*
Men's World Cup in
Utrecht,
The Netherlands** Gold Medal: The Netherlands
** Silver Medal: Spain
** Bronze Medal: Germany
*
Commonwealth Games (Men's Competition) in
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia** Gold Medal: Australia
** Silver Medal: Malaysia
** Bronze Medal: England
*
Men's Champions Trophy in
Lahore,
Pakistan** Gold Medal: The Netherlands
** Silver Medal: Pakistan
** Bronze Medal: Australia
*
Women's World Cup in
Utrecht,
The Netherlands** Gold Medal: Australia
** Silver Medal: The Netherlands
** Bronze Medal: Germany
*
Commonwealth Games (Women's Competition) in
Manchester,
England** Gold Medal: Australia
** Silver Medal: England
** Bronze Medal: New Zealand
Regional Competitions
*
Asian Games (Men's Competition) in
Bangkok,
Thailand** Gold Medal: India
** Silver Medal: South Korea
** Bronze Medal: Pakistan
*
Asian Games (Women's Competition) in
Bangkok,
Thailand** Gold Medal: South Korea
** Silver Medal: India
** Bronze Medal: China
*
World Figure Skating Championships:
**Men's champion:
Alexei Yagudin,
Russia**Women's champion:
Michelle Kwan,
United States**Pairs champions:
Elena Bereschnaya &
Anton Sicharulidze,
Russia*
January 13 -
ABC and
ESPN negotiate a $1.15 billion a season contract to keep
Monday Night Football.
*
Super Bowl XXXII:
Denver Broncos won 31-24 over the
Green Bay Packers*
Australian Football League** The
Adelaide Crows win the 102nd AFL premiership (Adelaide Crows 15.15 (105) d
North Melbourne 8.22 (70))
**
Brownlow Medal awarded to
Robert Harvey] (
St Kilda)
*
Grey Cup:
Calgary Stampeders win 26-24 over the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats*
Vanier Cup:
Saskatchewan Huskies win 24-17 over the
Concordia StingersThe
North Queensland Cowboys home stadium sponsor
Stockland finished up their sponsorship contract seeing out their three year deal.
A new sponsorship deal was drawn up by the Cowboys, with local milking organisation Dairy Farmers who owned the local
North Queensland milking dairy in the
Tablelands. It was rebadged into the newly named '
Dairy Farmers Stadium' for year 1998.
It was also the start of the
National Rugby League competition.
Super League (Australia) ended its 1 year competition and the
Australian Rugby League also ended theirs to merge together to become one. But for some clubs it came at a cost.
For the
Hunter Mariners and
Western Reds from
Super League (Australia) and the
South Queensland Crushers from the
Australian Rugby League these franchises were over. But it was the birth of a new franchise and a first in
rugby league history. A team in the state of
Victoria going by the name
Melbourne Storm.
The 20 teams competing in season 98 were:
Adelaide Rams,
Auckland Warriors,
Balmain Tigers,
Brisbane Broncos,
Canberra Raiders,
Canterbury Bulldogs,
Cronulla Sharks,
Gold Coast Chargers,
Illawarra Steelers,
Manly Sea Eagles,
Melbourne Storm,
Newcastle Knights,
North Queensland Cowboys,
North Sydney Bears,
Parramatta Eels,
Penrith Panthers,
St. George Dragons,
South Sydney Rabbitohs,
Sydney City Roosters,
Western Suburbs Magpies.
**
Brisbane Broncos win their fourth title, defeating
Canterbury Bulldogs 38-12 in the final.
For fuller coverage, see: 1998 in football (soccer)*
Camogie**All-Ireland Camogie Champion:
Cork**National Camogie League:
Cork*
Gaelic football**
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship:
Galway 1-14 d.
Kiladre 1-10
**
National Football League:
Offaly 0-9 d.
Derry 0-7
*
Ladies' Gaelic football**All-Ireland Senior Football Champion:
Waterford**National Football League:
Waterford*
Hurling**
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship:
Offaly 2-16 d.
Kilkenny 1-13
**
National Hurling League:
Men's Golf*
Major championship results:
*#April -
The Masters -
Mark O'Meara*#June -
US Open -
Lee Janzen*#July -
British Open -
Mark O'Meara*#August -
PGA Championship -
Vijay Singh*
PGA tour's leading money winner for the year:
David Duval - $2,591,031
*
PGA Champions Tour leading money winner:
Hale Irwin - $2,861,945
Women's Golf*
US Women's Open:
Se Ri Pak*
LPGA Championship:
Se Ri Pak*
Annika Sörenstam: leading money winner on the
LPGA tour, earning $1,092,748
*
North America Cup -
Straight Path*
United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
*#
Cane Pace -
Shady Character*#
Little Brown Jug -
Shady Character*#
Messenger Stakes -
Fit For Life*
United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
*#
Hambletonian -
Muscles Yankee*#
Yonkers Trot -
Muscles Yankee*#
Kentucky Futurity -
Trade Balance*
Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
**Pacers:
Our Sir Vancelot**Trotters:
Buster Hanover*For the first time, professional players from the National Hockey League (NHL, USA) participated in the
Winter Olympics. And also for the first time in Olympic history, women took part in ice hockey.
*Women's Gold Medal -
United States won 3-1 over
Canada*Men's Gold Medal -
Czech Republic won 1-0 over
Russia*
Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the
NHL's leading scorer during the regular season:
Jaromir Jagr,
Pittsburgh Penguins *
Hart Memorial Trophy: for the
NHL's Most Valuable Player:
Dominik Hasek -
Buffalo Sabres*
Stanley Cup:
Detroit Red Wings defeated the
Washington Capitals 4 games to 0.
*
World Hockey Championship** Men's champion:
Sweden defeated
Finland ** Junior Men's champion:
Russia defeated
Canada* The 8th
World Lacrosse Championship is held in
Baltimore, Maryland. The
United States win, and
Canada is the runner-up.
* The
Philadelphia Wings sweep the
Baltimore Thunder in the best of three series held to determine the winner of the
Champion's Cup.
* The Brampton Excelsiors win the
Mann Cup.
* The Clarington Green Gaels win the
Founders Cup.
* The Burnaby Lakers win the
Minto Cup.
*Ninth
Amateur Radio Direction Finding World Campionship held in
Nyíregyháza,
Hungary.
*The
North Queensland Cowboys home stadium sponsor
Stockland finished up their sponsorship contract seeing out their three year deal.
A new sponsorship deal was drawn up by the Cowboys, with local milking organisation Dairy Farmers who owned the local
North Queensland milking dairy in the
Tablelands. It was rebadged into the newly named '
Dairy Farmers Stadium' for year 1998.
*
Alpine Skiing**The men's overall season champion:
Hermann Maier,
Austria**The women's overall season champion:
Katja Seizinger,
Germany*
World Snooker Championship:
John Higgins beats
Ken Doherty 18-12
*
World rankings:
John Higgins becomes
world number one for 1998/99
*Second
European SC Championships, held in
Sheffield,
United Kingdom (
December 11 –
December 13)
*
Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
*#
Australian Open -
Petr Korda *#
French Open -
Carlos Moya*#
Wimbledon championships -
Pete Sampras*#
US Open -
Patrick Rafter*
Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
*#
Australian Open -
Martina Hingis*#
French Open -
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario*#
Wimbledon championships -
Jana Novotná*#
US Open -
Lindsay Davenport*
Davis Cup: Sweden wins 4-1 over Italy in world tennis.
*
Serena Williams finishes the year in the top 20
*
Elena Dementieva turns professional, becomes the first woman representing
Russia to enter the US Open semifinal.
*
Australia -
Melbourne Cup -
Jezabeel *
Canada -
Queen's Plate -
Archers Bay*
France -
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe -
Sagamix*
Ireland -
Irish Derby Stakes -
Dream Well*
English Triple Crown Races:
*#
Two Thousand Guineas Stakes -
King of Kings*#
Epsom Derby -
High Rise*#
St. Leger Stakes -
Nedawi*
United States Triple Crown Races:
*#
Kentucky Derby -
Real Quiet*#
Preakness Stakes -
Real Quiet*#
Belmont Stakes -
Victory Gallop*
Breeders' Cup:
*#
Breeders' Cup Classic -
Awesome Again*#
Breeders' Cup Distaff -
Escena*#
Breeders' Cup Juvenile -
Answer Lively*#
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies -
Silverbulletday*#
Breeders' Cup Mile -
Da Hoss*#
Breeders' Cup Sprint -
Reraise*#
Breeders' Cup Turf -
Buck's Boy*
Men's World Championship in
Perth, Australia** Gold Medal: Spain
** Silver Medal: Hungary
** Bronze Medal: Yugoslavia
*
Women's World Championship in
Perth, Australia** Gold Medal: Italy
** Silver Medal: The Netherlands
** Bronze Medal: Australia
*
World Championship Wrestling**
World War III***
Kevin Nash wins the 60-man, 3-ring World War III battle royale match.
*
World Wrestling Federation**
Royal Rumble***
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble match.
**
WrestleMania XIV***
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin wins his first
WWF World Heavyweight Championship by beating
Shawn Michaels.
Mike Tyson was a special guest enforcer.
**
Unforgiven***
The Undertaker defeats
Kane in the first ever
Inferno Match**
King of the Ring***
Ken Shamrock is crowned King of the Ring.
***
Mick Foley is thrown from the top of the
Cell by
The Undertaker during
their Hell in a Cell match in one of the most memorable moments in wrestling history.
**
Survivor Series***
The Rock wins a tournament to crown a new
WWF World Champion, beating
Mankind via a
Montreal Screwjob finish.
*
1998 Winter Olympics held in
Nagano,
Japan**
Germany wins the most medals (29), and the most gold medals (12)
**
Curling makes its Olympic debut
***Men's Gold Medal:
Switzerland wins 9-3 over
Canada ***Women's Gold Medal:
Canada wins 7-5 over
Denmark*
1998 Commonwealth Games held in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia*
Asian Games held in
Bangkok, Thailand*
Summer Goodwill Games held in
New York City,
United States* Fifth
Gay Games held in
Amsterdam,
The Netherlands*
January 1 —
Helen Wills Moody, tennis player
*
March 8 —
Ray Nitschke, American football player
*
March 13 —
Risen Star, champion thoroughbred race horse
*
April 9 —
John Tate (43), American boxer (b.
1955)
*
May 15 —
Earl Manigault, basketball player
*
July 4 —
Strike Out, harness racing horse
*
July 8 —
Lili de Alvarez, Spanish multi-sport competitor, tennis champion and author (b.
1905)
*
October 2 —
Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver
*
October 27 —
Winnie van Weerdenburg (52), Dutch swimmer
*
November 10 —
Hal Newhouser, baseball player
*
November 17 —
Kornelia Bouman (94), Dutch female tennis player (b.
1903)
*
December 20 —
Phil Stubbs (36), New Zealand ocean rowing champion, died in a plane crash
