As another year comes to a close, we take one step closer to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.

It's been a year to savour for Team England athletes, whether they were competing on the Olympic and Paralympic stage or continuing to define their career at a junior level.

In case you missed it, here are all the best bits from Team England's 2024 as we look ahead to a new and exciting year.

Glasgow 2024 announcement

Some of the most exciting news of the year came in October, as Glasgow was announced as the host for the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Games England gladly welcomed the announcement which will see the Scottish city host the Games once more after a glorious showing in 2014.

The Games will take place from 23 July to 2 August 2026 and Team England are already counting down towards one year to go.

The sport included are athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, lawn bowls, judo, 3x3 basketball, gymnastics, netball, and boxing.

While six of those sports - athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, lawn bowls and 3x3 basketball - will also feature para events to continue the Commonwealth Games' key aim of diversity and inclusion.

Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics

The Olympic and Paralympic Games lit up a summer of sport and plenty of Team England athletes graced the stage in Paris.

Forty-three different Team England athletes were among the medallists at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with six of them winning gold.

Keely Hodgkinson, who won silver at the most recent Commonwealth Games, went one better in the French capital with her stunning women’s 800m success, while Alex Yee added to his two Commonwealth golds with his memorable success in the men’s triathlon, overtaking Hayden Wilde towards the closing stages of a dramatic race.

Team England cyclists Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant were successful in the women’s team sprint in Paris, alongside Emma Finucane, to add Olympic gold to their Commonwealth Games medal hauls.

In the pool, Tom Dean, who won a remarkable seven medals in Birmingham, landed gold in the 4x200m freestyle alongside Team England legend James Guy.

At the Paralympics, there was a wave of medals across the whole competition for Team England athletes.

Highlights included Poppy Maskill, who made her Games debut at Birmingham 2022, becoming ParalympicsGB's most successful athlete of the Games with a staggering five medals in the pool, including three golds and a world record.

Wheelchair racing icon Hannah Cockroft added her eighth and nine Paralympic golds on the track two years after making her Team England debut in Birmingham while Dave Ellis, who stormed to para triathlon gold in Birmingham, took his maiden Paralympic title in style alongside guide Luke Pollard.

Trinbago athletes thrived

Another two Team England athletes who shone bright at Paris 2024, were Trinbago 2023 gold medallists and record holders Phoebe Gill and Maddie Down.

After emerging onto the scene at the Commonwealth Youth Games, just one year later the athletics stars made their respective Olympic and Paralympic debuts in Paris.

Gill made headlines after the 17-year-old clinched the British title at the National Championships in June before narrowly missing out on a place in the women's 800m final at her maiden Olympics, finishing 13th overall.

Down competed in both the women's T38 100m and long jump in Paris and clocked a personal best in both events, finishing eighth in the 100m final and sixth in the long jump.

At the U20 World Athletics Championships in Lima, Peru, Trinbago gold medallists Teddy Wilson and Charlotte Henrich also stormed to medals in the men's 4x100m relay and women's 4x400m relays.

On the netball court, Izzi Phillips, Darcie Everitt and Anya Williams all made their Netball Super League debuts.

All three athletes were part of the side that won bronze in Trinbago before going on to continue their careers as part of the NSL, reaching the final four in their maiden seasons.

Rainbow-Cooper shines at Boston Marathon

From Team England medallist to marathon history-maker, Eden Rainbow-Cooper is rewriting the record books.

The wheelchair racer stormed to the biggest win of her career with victory at the 2024 Boston Marathon just two years after she clinched silver for Team England at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

In just one hour 35 minutes 11 seconds, Rainbow-Cooper became the first English woman to win the wheelchair race and the first English athlete to win any of Boston's elite races since Geoff Smith in 1985.

Read more: Eden Rainbow-Cooper's journey from Birmingham 2022 to Boston glory

Kristian Thomas and Orlan Jackman join CGE board

On an internal note, Commonwealth Games England welcomed two athletes to its Board in 2024.

Former artistic gymnast Kristian Thomas, who enjoyed a glittering gymnastics career that saw him win a full set of Commonwealth medals including men’s team gold at Glasgow 2014, joined the Board as Athlete Non-Executive Director.

While Birmingham 2022 3x3 basketball champion Orlan Jackman took up a newly-formed Board Apprentice role.