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Hodgkinson is the favourite for the SPOTY crown
Red-hot favourite Keely Hodgkinson heads the shortlist for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, with England star Jude Bellingham and darts sensation Luke Littler also in contention.
Paralympic great Dame Sarah Storey, Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee and Joe Root, England’s most prolific Test run-scorer, complete the six-strong list.
The award will be presented during next Tuesday’s ceremony, with the sextet looking to emulate England goalkeeper Mary Earps, who claimed the prize 12 months ago.
Perhaps the most surprising omission is Mark Cavendish, who retired this year after breaking the record for most stage with in Tour de France history.
Hodgkinson was Team GB’s golden girl in Paris, turning her Tokyo silver medal - and two more from the last two World Championships - into a first major global title over 800m.
The 22-year-old went through 2024 unbeaten in her signature two-lap event, retaining her European title and lowering her own British record to become the sixth-fastest woman of all-time along the way.
Bellingham, meanwhile, enjoyed a remarkable debut season at Real Madrid, scoring 23 goals across all competitions as the Spanish giants won a Champions League and LaLiga double.
Euro 2024 - Round of 16 - England v Slovakia
Jude Bellingham scored a famous goal for England at Euro 2024
REUTERS
The midfielder was also at the heart of England’s run to the final of Euro 2024, scoring the group stage winner against Serbia and a dramatic bicycle-kick leveller to avoid an early exit against Slovakia in the last-16.
Littler became an instant household name with a remarkable run to the final of the World Darts Championship aged just 16.
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While he lost that contest to Luke Humphries, he has since claimed both the Premier League Darts and Grand Slam of Darts crowns ahead of this year’s Ally Pally return.
Storey, already Britain’s most successful Paralympian, won gold medals No18 and No19 of her illustrious career, retaining her titles in cycling’s C4-C5 road race and C5 road time trial in Paris.
She also claimed the same double at the World Championships to take her haul of golds at that event to 39.
Luke Littler took the darts year by storm
Getty Images
Yee won his first individual Olympic crown, upgrading his silver from Tokyo to gold in an epic sprint finish with New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde.
The young Londoner was also part of the mixed relay quartet that won bronze, before going on to claim a first World Triathlon Series title for good measure.
Rounding off the shortlist, Root surpassed Alastair Cook’s record of 12,472 to become England’s leading Test run-scorer of all-time.
The Yorkshireman, who made a career-high 269 during the First Test in Pakistan, has just recorded his 36th Test century - another record among Englishman set this year - and has one match to play of the ongoing series in New Zealand.
“It’s a fantastic shortlist,” said the BBC’s director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski. “All six of them have kept us on the edge of our seats this year, showing us how sensational they are. I’m looking forward to reliving each of their successes on the night and finding out who audiences want to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024.”