Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson is tipped to become the first female track and field athlete to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year for two decades after the shortlist was announced on Monday.
Team GB’s golden girl of middle distance running is the odds-on favourite with bookmakers to claim the prize, which is decided by a public vote, on Tuesday 17 December.
Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is seen as her nearest rival, with Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee, cricketer Joe Root, England footballer Jude Bellingham and Paralympic great Sarah Storey considered outsiders.
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Hodgkinson’s gold medal in Paris capped a superb year for the 22-year-old from Manchester, who also became European champion and smashed the British record with one of the fastest times in history.
Winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year would make Hodgkinson the first female athlete to do so since Dame Kelly Holmes in 2004 and the fourth woman in a row to claim the traditional end-of-year award.
Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps took the honour last year, following wins for her England teammate Beth Mead in 2022 and tennis star Emma Raducanu in 2021.
Littler is also nominated for Young Sports Personality of the Year in recognition of his stunning breakthrough at the PDC World Championships almost 12 months ago, where he reached the final aged just 16.
He has since built on that by winning the Premier League and Grand Slam of Darts, and will go into this year’s main event at Alexandra Palace, which begins next week, as one of the favourites.
Londoner Yee matched Hodgkinson’s Olympic gold with a thrilling comeback in Paris, helped Great Britain win bronze in the team event and later won a first world triathlon title.
Cyclist Storey, 47, took her tally of Paralympic gold medals to 19 by winning the time trial for a fifth successive Games and the road race for a fourth.
Bellingham, 21, starred for club and country, helping Real Madrid to win a LaLiga and Champions League double, and leading England to the final of Euro 2024.
Root, 33, became England’s highest ever Test run-scorer and last week equalled his career best with his sixth century of 2024.
Read the BBC’s announcement of the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist here.