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It’s that time of the year – no, not Christmas, it’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year night! England Lionesses icon Beth Mead is the overwhelming favourite of the six 2022 nominees to claim this year’s crown. Arsenal attacker Mead helped England win Euro 2022 in the summer and was named the player of the tournament while her six goals also saw her notch the Golden Boot.
The oldest-ever snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and England cricketer Ben Stokes, the 2019 winner of the award, are Mead’s main competition. There’s no room on the shortlist for seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton this year though, while reigning champion Emma Raducanu also misses out. There’s also no male footballers, unlike in the past two years when Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson have been in the final six, and Matt Fitzpatrick – the English golfer who won the US Open – is a curious absentee.
The bookies have heavily backed Mead given she has already been named the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year, while she was the runner-up in the Women’s Ballon d’Or. Elsewhere, Eve Muirhead is another contender after becoming Scotland’s most decorated curler this year. She captained the Team GB women’s team to curling gold at the Winter Olympics.
And 18-year-old Jessica Gadirova, also up for Young Sports Personality, is another in the running. She became only the fifth British gymnast of all time to be crowned individual world champion when she won floor gold at the World Athletics Championships. The final nominee is Scotland’s Jake Wightman who became the first British man since Steve Cram in 1983 to win gold in the 1500m at the World Championships. He beat Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the death in Oregon.
Follow live updates of the 2022 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards night below.
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