1985 in sports
1985 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s |
| Years: | 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 |
- Alpine Skiing World Cup:
- Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg
- Women's overall season champion: Michela Figini, Switzerland
- January 20 Super Bowl XIX – San Francisco 49ers won 38-16 over the Miami Dolphins
- Oklahoma Sooners - college football championship.
- Baltimore Stars win USFL Championship 28-24 over Oakland Invaders -- USFL folds shortly thereafter
- World Artistic Gymnastics Championships –
- Men's all-around champion: Yuri Korolev, USSR
- Women's all-around champions: Oksana Omelianchik, USSR, Yelena Shushunova, USSR
- Men's team competition champion: USSR
- Women's team competition champion: USSR
- NASL announces suspension of operations and hopes to return in 1986. It never did.
- England - FA Cup – Manchester United won 1-0 (aet) over Everton. Kevin Moran of MU receives first-ever red card in an FA Cup final.
- Victorian Football League
- Essendon wins the 89th VFL Premiership (Essendon 26.14 (170) d Hawthorn 14.8 (92))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Brad Hardie (Footscray)
- Cincinnati Reds' player/manager Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's All-Time Hit Record of 4,191 hits. Rose's record-breaking single was off of San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show (September 11)
- Rollie Fingers breaks Sparky Lyle's American League career record of 232 saves.
- World Series – The Kansas City Royals defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3, becoming the first team to win the World Series after losing the first two games at home.
- Books published:
- Bill James, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract: A seminal volume of baseball history by the leading sabermetrician of the day. He revised the book into a new edition in 2001.
- April 1NCAA Men's Basketball Championship –
- Villanova wins 66-64 over Georgetown
- National Basketball Association
- 1985 NBA Draft
- Patrick Ewing was drafted, adding the final piece of the puzzle to the NBA, increasing its already immense popularity.
- NBA Finals
- Los Angeles Lakers win 4 games to 2 over the Boston Celtics
- Team Moves
- Kansas City Kings franchise moves, 1985–86 NBA season first Sacramento Kings season.
- 1985 NBA Draft
- National Basketball League (Australia) Finals:
- Brisbane Bullets defeated the Adelaide 36ers 121-95 in the final.
- United States Basketball League ( USBL ) was founded
- April 15 - The War: Marvin Hagler knocks out Thomas Hearns in three rounds to retain the world's Middleweight title.
- August 10 - Héctor Camacho defeats José Luis Ramírez to lift the WBC's world Lightweight title.
- September 21 - Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes by a decision in 15 rounds to become the first world Light Heavyweight champion to win a fucking world Heavyweight title.
- Grey Cup – B.C. Lions win 37-24 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- Vanier Cup – Calgary Dinos win 25-6 over the Western Ontario Mustangs
- Kim Hughes leads a "rebel" team of players on tour of South Africa, banned from official cricket since 1970 because of apartheid
- Giro d'Italia won by Bernard Hinault of France
- Tour de France - Bernard Hinault of France
- World Cycling Championship – Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands
- Libby Riddles with her lead dogs, Axle & Dugan, becomes the first woman to ever win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
- Men's Champions Trophy held in Perth, Western Australia won by Australia
- World Figure Skating Championships –
- Men's champion: Alexander Fadeev, Soviet Union
- Ladies' champion: Katarina Witt, East Germany
- Pair skating champions: Elena Valova / Oleg Vasiliev, Soviet Union
- Ice dancing champions: Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin, Soviet Union
- Camogie
- Gaelic football
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – Kerry 2-12 d. Dublin 2-8
- National Football League – Monaghan 1-11 d. Armagh 0-9
- Ladies' Gaelic football
- Hurling
- All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship – Offaly 2-11 d. Galway 1-12
- National Hurling League –
Men's professional
- Masters Tournament - Bernhard Langer
- U.S. Open - Andy North
- British Open - Sandy Lyle
- PGA Championship - Hubert Green
- PGA Tour money leader - Curtis Strange - $542,321
- Senior PGA Tour money leader - Peter Thomson - $386,724
- Ryder Cup - Europe won 16½ to 11½ over the United States in team golf.
Men's amateur
Women's professional
- Nabisco Dinah Shore - Alice Miller
- LPGA Championship - Nancy Lopez
- U.S. Women's Open - Kathy Baker
- Classique du Maurier Classic - Pat Bradley
- LPGA Tour money leader - Nancy Lopez - $416,472
- North America Cup - Staff Director
- United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
- United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
- Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
- Pacers: Preux Chevalier
- Trotters: Scotch Notch
Steeplechases
Flat races
- Australia – Melbourne Cup won by What A Nuisance
- Canada – Queen's Plate won by La Lorgnette
- France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Rainbow Quest
- Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Law Society
- Japan – Japan Cup won by Symboli Rudolf
- English Triple Crown Races:
- United States Triple Crown Races:
- Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships:
- Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
- Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
- Stanley Cup – Edmonton Oilers win 4 games to 1 over the Philadelphia Flyers
- World Hockey Championship –
- Men's champion: Czechoslovakia defeated Canada
- Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated Czechoslovakia
- Stock car racing –
- Bill Elliott won the Daytona 500
- NASCAR Championship - Darrell Waltrip
- Ken Schrader enters NASCAR
- CART Racing - Al Unser Sr won the season championship
- Formula One Championship - Alain Prost of France
- 24 hours of Le Mans – the team of Klaus Ludwig / Paolo Barilla / "John Winter" (Louis Krages) won, driving a Porsche 956
- Rally racing - Timo Salonen in a Peugeot won the World Rally Championship
- the team of Ari Vatanen / Terry Harryman won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Peugeot 205T16
- Drag racing –
- Don Garlits won the NHRA Top Fuel championship
- Gary Beck won Top Fuel at the NHRA World Finals
- 91st Five Nations Championship series is won by Ireland
- World Snooker Championship – Dennis Taylor beats Steve Davis 18-17 in one of the greatest snooker matches of all time
- World rankings – Steve Davis remains world number one for 1985/86
- First Pan Pacific Championships held in Tokyo (August 15 – August 18)
- July 21 – Switzerland's Dano Halsall swims a world record in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a swimming meet in Bellinzona, shaving off 0.02 of the previous record (22.54) set by USA's Robin Leamy four years ago: 22.52.
- December 6 – USA's Tom Jager takes the world record from Dano Halsall (22.52) in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a swimming meet in Austin, Texas, clocking 22.40.
- Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
- Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
- Davis Cup – Sweden wins 3-2 over Germany F.R. in world team tennis.
- European Volleyball Championship held in the Netherlands: both men's and women's tournaments won by USSR
- 1985 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup held in Duisburg won by West Germany
- 1985 Men's European Water Polo Championship held in Sofia, Bulgaria won by USSR
- 1985 Women's European Water Polo Championship held in Oslo, Norway won by the Netherlands
- Sixth Pan Arab Games held in Rabat, Morocco
- Second World Games held in London, United Kingdom
- Thirteenth Summer Universiade held in Kobe, Japan
- Twelfth Winter Universiade held in Belluno, Italy
Awards
- Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Dwight Gooden, Major League Baseball
- Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Nancy Lopez, LPGA golf