Amaze. Inspire. Surprise. You’ll be hearing those words a lot in the coming weeks—together, they cut to the heart of why we love sports in the first place. So in the days leading up to the naming of SI’s Sportsperson we’ll be looking back and shining a light on the athletes, moments and teams (and one horse) who did one—or all—of those things in 2018. There can be only one Sportsperson. But it has been a year full of deserving candidates.
It was perhaps the most exhilarating moment of World Cup 2018. Kylian Mbappé, the 19-year-old French forward sensation, erased his Argentine defenders with an insouciant display of skill and speed on the ball that all they could do to stop him was bring him down for a penalty in their Round of 16 game.