It's been another great year of sport, with the world's fastest man on show, Australia's cricketers under the pump and the Socceroos forcing their way into a second straight World Cup.

To celebrate the year that was, here are some of the best sport images of 2009, compiled by Australian Associated Press.

Click the arrows to scroll through the images, and click on captions for background information on each of the events.

Enjoy our gallery: the year in sport.

In the spirit of the season, we also present the best of sport for 2009 below. Click here to check out the 2009 wrap-up