How do you know its nearly Christmas in your house? In mine, my dad whacks on Sports Personality of the Year, and you know you’re only a week or so out from lots of food, gifts and spending precious time with the ones you love.
This year’s awards show will be held on Tuesday, 17th December, where six contenders will be up for the chance of winning one of the UK’s most prestigious awards. Darts player Luke Littler, cricketer Joe Root, footballer Jude Bellingham, triathlete Alex Yee, Para-cyclist Sarah Storey and runner Keely Hodgkinson are the nominees.
Director of BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, told the BBC: “I’m looking forward to reliving each of their successes on the night and finding out who audiences want to be crowned BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2024.”
You’ll be able to vote online or by phone on the night of the ceremony if you wish to choose your winner for the award. For you to choose, you should know some more about the incredible athletes, read on for some information on their individual achievements.
Luke Littler
17-year-old Luke Littler has taken the darts world by storm as he catapulted himself through to the finals of the PDC World Darts Championship at the start of the year. Littler was ranked 164th in the world in the lead up to the tournament, whereas nearly a year on, he ranks fourth.
Since then, he has gone on to claim ten trophies and is on track to break the record for the most 180s in a season. Littler is currently the bookies favourite to win the upcoming PDC World Darts Championship.
Joe Root
Joe Root, a well-known cricketer, made history in October as he became England’s record Test run scorer, overtaking Sir Alastair Cook’s mark of 12,472 on the way to a career-best score against Pakistan. In the second test against Sri Lanka this August, Root broke Sir
This year, Root has scored the most test runs over any other cricketer, with 1470, the closest behind him being Yashasvi Jaiswal of India, with 1304 test runs.
Jude Bellingham
Jude Bellingham, a household footballing name this summer as he scored twice during England’s road to the Euro 2024 final, including a beautifully worked bicycle kick against Slovakia. Additionally, in his debut season with Real Madrid, he helped them win the La Liga and the Champions League, in which he contributed 23 goals in all competitions.
Bellingham placed third in the Ballon d’Or voting, which is the highest position by an Englishman since Frank Lampard in 2005. He also was named La Liga player of the season as well as Champions League young player of the season. Incredible achievements at such a young age. Can he add another award to his name this Christmas time?
Alex Yee
Triathlete Alex Yee had a stormer of a year, where he was crowned Olympic and World champion in his sport. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Yee produced a world-class finish to overtake a New Zealand athlete in the closing stages to win his first individual Olympic gold. He also won bronze with Team GB in the mixed relay.
He continued to dominate on the world stage with victories in the World Triathlon Series in Weihai and Cagliari, helping him claim his first world title of his career.
Sarah Storey
Sarah Storey is Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian of all time, with 39 world gold medals after adding two more at this year’s Paralympic games. Storey won the C4-C5 road race and C5 road time trial.
Her medal record tally of career medals is unmatched in Britain, 30 medals in the Paralympics, 19 of which are gold, and came after her first medal in Paralympic swimming back in 1992.
Her success story continued this year at the Road and Para-cycling World Championships as she won both the C4-C5 road race and C5 road time trial again, for the 10th time in her career.
Keely Hodgkinson
Keely Hodgkinson, a 22-year-old runner from England, has had her fair share of ups and downs in her career. In Tokyo 2020, Hodgkinson claimed a silver medal in the 800m, followed by silvers at the past two World Championships.
Hodgkinson refused to wait any longer for a major global title, so during the Paris 2024 Olympics, she ended the agony and stole the 800m gold medal in stunning fashion. This was Team GB’s first Olympic track title since Mo Farah’s in 2016. It also made her the 10th British woman to win a gold in athletics in the Olympics.
My view of the awards ceremony
I am so excited to watch the programme this year, as I am every year, but this year it feels more special. As you get older, you can appreciate the incredible work that these athletes put in day in, day out. In my eyes, regardless of the outcome, they are all winners in their own respective ways.
Who do you think will take home BBC Sports Personality of the Year?