2003 in sports

See also: 2002 in sports, other events of 2003, 2004 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Auto Racing

Stock car racing:

Michael Waltrip wins rain-shortened Daytona 500
Winston Cup Championship won by Matt Kenseth for Ford.

Nextel signs deal to replace R.J. Reynolds as title sponsor of series

Indianapolis 500

Won by Gil de Ferran of Brazil for Team Penske.

Indy Racing League

Won by Scott Dixon of New Zealand, for Chip Ganassi Racing.

CART Racing Series

Paul Tracy of Canada was the champion.
Sebastien Bourdais was the rookie of the year.

Formula One Championship

Michael Schumacher of Germany wins his 6th World Driver's Championship, breaking tie with Juan Manuel Fangio.
Juan Pablo Montoya wins the Monaco Grand Prix.

24 hours of Le Mans

Victors Tom Kristensen / Rinaldo Capello / Guy Smith driving a Bentley Speed 8 GT

V8 Supercars:

Bathurst 1000, Australia - Won by Greg Murphy of New Zealand and Rick Kelly of Australia for the K-Mart Racing Team. Murphy sets the fastest ever lap of any type of car on the mountain, including open wheelers.
Marcos Ambrose for Stone Brothers Racing wins V8 Supercar Championship Series, with more wins and more poles than any other.
Mark Winterbottom for Stone Brothers Racing wins 'junior division', Konica Championship Series.

Rally racing:

the team of Sbastien Loeb / Daniel Elena wins the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Citron Total.
Petter Solberg of Norway wins the World Rally Championship for Subaru, defeating Loeb by a single point at season's end.

Drag racing
Nations Cup Australia

Championship won by Paul Stokell for Team Lamborghini in a Lamborghini Diablo GTR.
Bathurst 24 hours at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, won by Peter Brock, Grey Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly in a Monaro GRM 427, 7-litre Race Prototype.

Baseball

April 4 - Sammy Sosa hits his 500th career home run off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Scott Sullivan in the seventh inning at Great American Ball Park, becoming only the 18th player in Major League Baseball history to hit 500 or more home runs, as well as the first Hispanic to do so.

May 5 - Matt Stairs' home run off Houston Astros pitcher Wade Miller was estimated at 461 feet, making it the longest home run in the history of Minute Maid Park.

May 11 - Rafael Palmeiro hit his 500th career home run off Cleveland Indians pitcher David Elder becoming only the 19th player in Major League Baseball history to hit 500 or more home runs.

June 13 - New York Yankee Roger Clemens becomes the 21st pitcher in history to win 300 games and only the 3rd pitcher to record 4,000 career strikeouts as he defeats the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2.

2003 World Series: The Florida Marlins win 4 games to 2 over the New York Yankees.

Books published:

Michael Lewis, Moneyball: An examination of the present-day Oakland Athletics as run by their general manager Billy Beane, and how the application of sabermetric principles has allowed the A's to be competitive despite having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

See also

2003 in baseball

Basketball

April 7 - NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:

Syracuse Orangemen win 81-78 over the Kansas Jayhawks

April 8 - NCAA Women's Basketball Championship:

UConn Huskies win 73-68 over the Tennessee Lady Vols

NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs win 4 games to 2 over the New Jersey Nets

WNBA Finals: Detroit Shock win 2 games to 1 over the Los Angeles Sparks, winning the franchise's first title, and marking the first time an Eastern conference team is WNBA world champions.

December 13 - The largest crowd in the sport's history, 78,129, packed Ford Field in Detroit to watch Michigan State and Kentucky. Kentucky wins 79-74.

Boxing

September 13: Shane Mosley conquers the WBA and WBC world Jr. Middleweight titles with a 12 round unanimous decision over Oscar De La Hoya in rematch of their 2000 bout

Cricket

Bank Alfalah Cup - New Zealand defeats Pakistan in the final by 4 wickets
Cricket World Cup - Australia defeats India in the final by 125 runs to win the ICC 2003 cricket World Cup
Natwest Series - England defeats South Africa in the final by 7 wickets
The Ashes - Australia win 4-1
TVS Cup - The cup is shared when the final between India and South Africa is rained out
Domestic competitions

County Championship (England and Wales) - Sussex
Pura Cup (Australia) - New South Wales
First Twenty20 Cup series held (England and Wales), won by Surrey

May - West Indies defeat Australia scoring a world record 418 runs in the 4th innings breaking a 27-year-old record of India who had scored 406 runs in the 4th innings to win a test match against West Indies.

Curling

2003 Nokia Brier

Final: (March 9) Alberta (Randy Ferbey) 8-4 Nova Scotia (Mark Dacey)

2003 Scott Tournament of Hearts

Final: (February 23) Canada (Colleen Jones) 9-7 Newfoundland and Labrador (Cathy Cunningham)

2003 Ford World Curling Championship

Women's Final: (April 12) United States (Debbie McCormick) 5-3 Canada (Colleen Jones)
Men's Final: (April 13) Canada (Randy Ferbey) 10-6 Switzerland (Ralph Stckli)

Continental Cup of Curling (November 27-30)

Europe 208-179 North America

2003 McCain TSN Skins Game Final: (December 7) Wayne Middaugh $36,000-$28,000 Pl Trulsen
2003 JVC/TSN Women's Skins Game Final: (December 14) Sherry Middaugh $31,000-$11,000 Debbie McCormick
2003 Canada Cup

Women's Final: (January 11) Sherry Middaugh 8-7 Kelley Law
Men's Final: (January 12) Randy Ferbey 7-5 John Morris

2003 Canadian Open Final: (November 9) Glen Despins 8-7 Dave Boehmer
Masters of Curling Final: (January 12) Kevin Martin 8-7 Vic Peters
M&M Meat Shops Masters of Curling Final: (December 14) Wayne Middaugh 5-2 Jeff Stoughton
2003 WCT National Champion: Pierre Charette
PharmAssist Players' Championship Final: (February 23) Jeff Stoughton 8-3 John Morris
2003 Strathcona Cup: Scotland 2600-2492 Canada
2003 Asia-Pacific Curling Championships:

Women's Final (November 29) Japan (Shinobu Aota) 7-3 South Korea (Mi-Yeon Kim)
Men's Final (November 29) New Zealand (Sean Becker) 6-5 Australia (Hugh Millikin)

Le Gruyre European Curling Championships 2003 (ended December 13)

Women's Final Sweden (Anette Norberg) 7-6 Switzerland (Luzia Ebnther)
Men's Final Scotland (David Murdoch) 11-5 Sweden (Peja Lindholm)

World Junior "B" Curling Championships (ended January 12)

Men's Final: Norway (Thomas Lvold) 4-3 Finland (Tuomas Vuori)
Women: Russia's Nkeiruka Ezekh wins gold.

Winter Universiade 2003 (ended January 23)

Women's Final: Russia (Olga Jarkova) 11-2 Lakehead University, Canada (Krista Scharf)
Men's Final: Brandon University, Canada (Mike McEwan) 6-4 Switzerland (Cyril Stutz)

World Junior Curling Championships (ended March 30)

Women's Final: Canada (Marliese Miller) 5-4 United States (Cassandra Johnson)
Men's Final: Canada (Steve Laycock) 5-4 Sweden (Carl-Axel Dahlin)

World Senior Curling Championship (ended April 6)

Women's Final: Canada (Nancy Kerr) 7-4 Scotland (Carolyn Morris)
Men's Final: Canada (Tom Reed) 9-3 United States (Scott Baird)

Cycling

Giro d'Italia won by Gilberto Simoni of Italy
Tour de France - Lance Armstrong
World Cycling Championship: Igor Astarloa of Spain

Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships:

Men's champion: Evgeni Plushenko, Russia
Women's champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
Pairs champions: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao, China

Football (American)

January 3 - Fiesta Bowl (Bowl Championship Series):

Ohio State Buckeyes win 31-24 over the Miami Hurricanes (double overtime)

January 27 - Super Bowl XXXVII:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers win 48-21 over the Oakland Raiders

Football (Australian Rules)

Australian Football League

The Brisbane Lions win the 107th AFL premiership (Brisbane Lions 20.14 (134) d Collingwood 12.12 (84))
Brownlow Medal awarded to Nathan Buckley (Collingwood), Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans) and Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide Crows)
See also Australian Football League season 2003

Football (Canadian)

February 27 - Darren Flutie retires

November 16 - 91st Grey Cup (Canadian Football League Championship game)

Edmonton Eskimos 34-22 Montreal Alouettes

November 22 - Vanier Cup: (Canadian University Championship game)

Laval University 14-7 St. Mary's University

Football (Soccer)

Champions League: AC Milan wins 3-2 on penalties over Juventus, after a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. This was AC Milan's 6th European Cup.

UEFA Cup: FC Porto wins 3-2 in the final against Celtic, after extra time, with a silver goal by Derlei. This is Porto's first UEFA Cup title.

European Super Cup: AC Milan beats FC Porto 1-0, winning the cup for the 4th time.

Intercontinental Cup: Boca Juniors win 3-1 on penalties over AC Milan, after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time. This is Boca Juniors' third cup.

England - FA Cup: Arsenal win 1-0 over Southampton

English Premier League - Manchester United wins the English Premier League by 5 points over Arsenal.

Women's World Cup: Germany wins the final against Sweden 2-1 after extra time.

June 17 - Manchester United sells English soccer star David Beckham to Real Madrid for 35 million euros.

November 28 - In an Asian Cup qualifier between Iran and Lebanon, Ali Daei scores his 85th goal for the Iranian national team, breaking the record of Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas.

Golf

Men's Golf

Major Championship results:

April 10-13 - The Masters - Mike Weir. Weir becomes the first Canadian and the first left-handed golfer to win The Masters. He defeats Len Mattiace on the first playoff hole.
June 12-15 - US Open - Jim Furyk - takes place at Olympia Fields, Furyk wins his first major by 3 shots.
July 17-20- British Open - Ben Curtis, a virtual unknown, shocks the world, posting a -1, a single shot ahead of Thomas Björn and Vijay Singh at the very difficult Royal St. George's.
August 14-17 - PGA Championship - Shaun Micheel, another virtual unknown, wins by 2 shots at the tough Oak Hill Country Club.

Other highlights

March 2 - Tiger Woods wins the Accenture Match Play Championships, defeating David Toms 2 and 1.
April 20 - Davis Love III chips in on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, which he wins, giving him his fifth victory at the MCI Heritage at Harbour Town.
May 22 - At the Colonial Open golf tournament, LPGA champion Annika Srenstam became the first woman in 58 years to compete in a men's professional golf tournament.
June 1 - Kenny Perry wins for the second straight week, this time at The Memorial, held at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
July 6 - Tiger Woods wins the 100th Western Open at Cog Hill

Vijay Singh is the PGA TOUR's leading money winner for the year, with earnings of $7,349,907 in 27 events.

Tom Watson is the leading money winner on the Champions Tour, with earnings of $1,853,108 in 14 events.

President's Cup - For the first time ever, the Cup is shared between the United States and International teams.

Women's Golf

Major results

Kraft Nabisco Championship - Patricia Meunier-Lebouc
US Women's Open - Hilary Lunke wins an 18-hole playoff over Angela Stanford and Kelly Robbins.
LPGA Championship - Annika Srenstam
Women's British Open - Annika Srenstam

Annika Srenstam was the leading money winner on the LPGA tour, with earnings of $2,029,506.

Michelle Wie, then 13 years old, becomes the youngest person ever to win a USGA event for adults by winning the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.

Handball

2003 World Men's Handball Championship played in Portugal

Gold medal: Croatia
Silver medal: Germany
Bronze medal: France

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

Australia - Melbourne Cup - Makybe Diva
Canada - Queen's Plate - Wando
France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Dalakhani
Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Alamshar

English Triple Crown Races:

United States Triple Crown Races:

Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships:

Breeders' Cup Classic - Pleasantly Perfect
Breeders' Cup Distaff - Adoration
Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf - Islington
Breeders' Cup Juvenile - Action This Day
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies - Halfbridled
Breeders' Cup Mile - Six Perfections
Breeders' Cup Sprint - Cajun Beat
Breeders' Cup Turf - Dead heat High Chaparral - Johar

Harness Racing

North America Cup:

United States Pacing Triple Crown races:

United States Trotting Triple Crown races:

Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:

Pacers: Baltic Eagle
Trotters: Take A Moment

Ice Hockey

Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche

Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche

Stanley Cup: New Jersey Devils win 4 games to 3 over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP is won by Jean-Sebastien Giguere of Anaheim.

World Hockey Championship

Men's champion: Canada defeats Sweden 3-2
Junior Men's champion: Russia win 3-2 over Canada
Women's champion: tournament scheduled for Beijing, China cancelled due to the outbreak of SARS.