You can train and prepare as much as is physically possible ahead of the biggest moment in your sporting career, but sometimes luck just isn’t on your side.
We’ve taken a look at five of the unluckiest moments in sport which, undoubtedly, would have left those impacted tearing their hair out.
Get in The… Water
Dustin Johnson must have been cursing his luck after a beautiful piece of approach play ultimately ended in disaster at the WGC-HSBC Champions in 2015.
The American started the final round in a tie for third and just one-shot off joint-leaders Russell Knox and Kevin Kisner.
After picking up a couple of shots to ramp up the pressure in the final round his hopes, and likely confidence, took a major hit on the par-five eighth hole.
DJ’s approach shot ricocheted off the flag, spinning all the way down the hill into the water and had to settle for a double-bogey.
In an alternative reality where the ball bounced more favourably and into the hole, Johnson may have claimed the title in Shanghai as his finished the event in a tie for fifth and four shots shy of winner Knox.
Drama in PDC World Darts Championship Final
Gary Anderson and Phil Taylor put on an incredible show in the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship final at Alexandra Palace.
The balance of power changed hands on several occasions with Anderson earning an early 3-1 advantage before Taylor won nine of the next 10 legs to go 4-3 ahead.
Anderson then levelled at 4-4 and was eager to make a positive to start when throwing first in the ninth set.
He had fans on their feet as his first two darts bedded in the treble 20 but his third dart knocked them out of the board and he failed to score.
The Flying Scotsman did still go on to win the title, while the match set a record for the most 180s in a PDC final with 32.
Indeed, Anderson also set an individual record at the tournament by landing 64 180s.
Debris Denies Bottas Baku Win
The 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was littered with controversy and it ended in heartbreak for Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
The Finn had made a positive start to the season and arrived in Baku after successive second-place finishes.
He looked set to earn his first win of the season after taking the lead with 40 laps on the clock, however, a collision involving Red Bull pair Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen denied him the chequered flag.
The race was allowed to continue once the track had seemingly been cleared of all debris but Bottas, who was coasting to the win, managed to find the one remaining piece with his right-rear and suffered a puncture with just three laps remaining.
Teammate Lewis Hamilton went on to earn the victory and Bottas has since admitted he “cried like a baby” after returning to the team hotel.
Beach Ball for Anytime Scorer?
Fans witnessed one of the strangest goals ever scored in the Premier League when Sunderland beat Liverpool 1-0 at the Stadium of Light in October 2009.
Liverpool were hoping to bounce back from defeat to Chelsea when they travelled to the north east but it was the actions of one of their fans that proved costly.
Darren Bent had already netted seven times in Sunderland’s opening eight games but his eighth of the term, which decided the game, came with its fair share of fortune.
Little attention had been paid to the fact that a Liverpool fan had thrown an inflatable beach ball on to the field until Bent struck a low shot towards Pepe Reina.
The Spaniard was hugely unlucky as the effort deflected off the ball and into the back of the net.
Liverpool players made their complaints to referee Mike Jones but he deemed that the goal would stand and Sunderland claimed all three points.
Strange Six Hands England World Cup
New Zealand had England on the ropes in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final as Ben Stokes was tasked with finding nine runs from the last three balls.
Stokes had already produced plenty of heroics but the best, from an England point of view, was yet to come.
England’s Stokes, who was diving to complete a second run, inadvertently deflected the ball for four overthrows to make six in total.
The hosts went on to win the World Cup after a Super Over as New Zealand were left scratching their heads as to how they had allowed victory to slip through their hands.
It will surely be regarded as one of the most unlucky moments in sporting history as the Kiwis finished runner’s up for the second successive competition.
