• October 10 down the years

Three and easy for Rhinos

Kevin Sinfield of Leeds Rhinos poses with the trophy after winning the Super League Grand Final against St Helens in 2009 © Getty Images

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2009
In rugby league, Leeds Rhinos became the first club to win the Super League final three years in a row. They beat St Helens all three times, including today's seesaw match after falling 8-0 behind. Unconverted tries by Matt Diskin and Lee Smith levelled the score before half-time, then a drop goal by Kevin Sinfield put the Rhinos ahead. Video evidence disallowed Ade Gardner's try for Saints, who regained the lead with Kyle Eastmond's third successful goal kick. Sinfield's boot put Leeds back in front, then St Helens had another try disallowed before Smith scored his second try of the match despite suspicions of offside. This was his last for Leeds before joining rugby union club London Wasps. He'd also scored in the 2008 Grand Final against Saints, who felt they hadn't had the rub of the green today - especially Eastmond, who scored all their points in an 18-10 defeat.

2004
The first Formula One driver to win 13 World Championship races in a season. Michael Schumacher won the first five of the year, then another seven in a row. Today's Japanese Grand Prix was overshadowed by a typhoon which caused serious damage across the country and postponed qualifying until the morning of the race. The weather behaved itself during the event itself, and Schumacher led a brotherly one-two in his Ferrari. Starting on pole, he won comfortably from Ralf Schumacher's Williams. Michael won the world title for a record 7th time, a record ten years after his first.

In November 2013, Sebastian Vettel won the Brazilian Grand Prix in style as he ended the season as world champion. And in doing so, the German matched his compatriot's record of 13 championship race wins in a single season. It must be something they put in the water.

1997
At the World Judo Championships in Paris, Britain's Kate Howey won gold in the middleweight class. She'd needed only 34 seconds to beat Olympic champion Cho Min-Sun of South Korea, and today's final against Anja von Rekowski lasted less than two minutes. Howey took the lead after 40 seconds, then ducked under the German's arm for the throw which won her the title. Howey had been mounting the rostrum a step at a time. Bronze in 1991, then silver in 1993 after leading the final with only seven seconds to go. She won further World Championship medals in 1999 and 2001, plus Olympic silver in 2000 before carrying the flag at the 2004 Games.

1995
South Africa are arguably the top country in rugby union. But they've never been so hot at the other code. In a rugby league World Cup match in Gateshead, they conceded 16 tries in an 86-6 hammering by Australia. The Rhinos began well enough, allowed the reigning champions only two tries in the first 20 minutes, but then Australia scored six in the next twelve minutes to lead 52-0 at half-time. They should have become the first team to reach the ton in an international match, but Andrew Johns missed a few kicks after half-time. So although he succeeded with eleven of his 16 conversion attempts, he equalled a world record instead of breaking it. His 30 points matched the total of another Australian, Michael O'Connor, against Papua New Guinea in 1988. Johns broke it with 32 against Fiji the following year. Australia's 86 points today set a new record for all internationals and remained the highest score in a World Cup until their game with Russia in 2000 (November 4). The Kangaroos went on to reach the final against Great Britain (October 28), who'd beaten them in the opening match.

Over in Hull, the match between Papua New Guinea and Tonga ended in the highest-scoring draw in any World Cup match. Tonga scored their sixth try with only three minutes left, but PNG made it 28-all with a last-minute try scored by Lucas Solbat and converted by Elias Paiyo.

1980
More success for Australia as their greatest squash player completed his achievement of winning the first four World Opens. After beating Mohibullah Khan in 1976, his last three finals were all against another Pakistani, the brilliant Qamar Zaman. Brilliant but brittle. In 1977, Zaman came from two games down to win the next two 9-0 9-1 before losing in five. But Geoff Hunt crushed him 9-2 9-3 9-2 in 1979 and won even more easily today in Adelaide. He took the first set to nil and cruised each of the next two 9-3. The whole match lasted only 34 minutes. Zaman lost the 1984 final too, again in straight games, and never won the world title.

In 1971, legendary fly-half Hugo Porta made his debut for Argentina. In a South American Championship match in Montevideo, they beat Chile only 20-3 and Porta didn't take their kicks at goal. He took a few from then on, finishing with 653 points in international matches (worth 665 today), easily a world record at the time. Arguably the greatest fly-half of all time, he played his last match for Argentina as late as 1999 (April 17).

In 1999, all-time great centre Tim Horan scored the last of his 30 tries for Australia. A World Cup winner in 1991, today he helped Australia beat Ireland 23-3 in Dublin. Ben Tune scored their other try, Matt Burke contributed ten points, and lock forward John Eales added a penalty goal. Horan played in four more internationals - 80 in all - without scoring.

1920
In Baseball, Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in any World Series, a four-point home run. In the same game, his Cleveland Indians team mate Elmer Smith became the first pitcher to hit a home run in a World Series. The Indians won the game 10-1 on the way to beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-2.

1976
The oldest runner to complete a Marathon. Maybe. Dimitris Yordanidis was 98 years old when he covered the classic course from Marathon to Athens in 7 hours 33 minutes. But note that another runner in the race claimed young Yordanidis covered part of it in a car! Two years earlier, he'd run the same race in 6 hours 42.

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