With Christmas fast approaching we are at that time where the sporting year is analysed, recapped and evaluated in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony which this year comes from the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Sunday evening.
12 stars of sport have been shortlisted for the award which the public will vote for on Sunday evening after each person has been profiled on the live program. Andy Murray took the crown 12 months ago but it will be presented to someone else on Sunday.
Contenders
Elise Christie – Triple world champion figure skater
Mo Farah – 10,000m world athletics champion
Chris Froome – Tour de France and Vuelta d’Espana winner
Lewis Hamilton – Formula 1 world champion
Anthony Joshua – WBA and IBF world heavyweight boxing champion
Harry Kane – Premier League Golden Boot winner
Johanna Konta – British tennis number one and Grand Slam semi-finalist
Jonnie Peacock – World Para-athletics T44 100m champion
Adam Peaty – 50m and 100m breaststroke world champion swimmer and world record holder
Jonathan Rea – World Superbike champion for the third successive time
Anya Shrubsole – Women’s World Cup winning cricketer
Bianca Walkden – World heavyweight Taekwondo champion
Preview
While the extension of the shortlist to accommodate many of our Olympic champions was a good idea last year in a non-Olympic year it does dilute the amount of sports people who can genuinely win this.
Everyone on the shortlist is there on merit but we have to face up to the reality that of the 12 only two can win this without something bizarre happening. They are Anthony Joshua and Lewis Hamilton and even the popularity and appeal of the latter is waning.
It is a public vote that decides this and that is important to remember and while many seem to think there is a big emphasis on how they are profiled during the show realistically most have made their mind up before the programme begins and those inclined to vote are just waiting for the lines to open to allow them to do so.
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Betting
SPOILER ALERT! Anthony Joshua is a shoo in for this. His promotional team have done such great work with him that he is a big enough profile and his achievements in the year make him impossible to oppose so it is off to the side markets for a bet with the top 3 finish being the obvious one.
If we accept that Lewis Hamilton will finish second which probably will happen but which is nothing but certain given his support diminishing there is still one place up for grabs. Three days ago Chris Froome would have been a warm favourite to take it but his drugs issue has scuppered those chances. That leaves Mo Farah as one of the favourites for it but if he can’t make the top three in the two years he was double Olympic champion you wonder if he can this year when only having one of the expected two world titles to his name.
That might give the chance of some exposure from further down the sporting pecking order. Jonathan Rea is getting plenty of support but motorcyclists don’t tend to achieve much in this. We are in the time of women’s sport being very much in the spotlight and that could make the likes of Anya Shrubsole or Elise Christie popular but I’m not convinced.
Disability sport is very much in the spotlight more these days and that might give Jonnie Peacock the chance to make the podium. He is a wonderful competitor with a good story which will do him no harm with the voters and we shouldn’t ignore his Strictly Come Dancing appearance which might convince the wives being forced to watch the show by their husbands to pick up and vote for him. Appearing on that show will have done wonders for Peacock’s profile and at 14/1 I’ll have a poke on him to nail a podium spot.
Tips
WON – Back J.Peacock Top 3 finish for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Skybet
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