The BBC has announced six nominees for the Sports Personality of the Year award, with England’s goalkeeper Mary Earps being the top contender to take over her teammate Beth Mead’s title.
Bookmakers are currently offering odds of 1-7 for the 30-year-old, who played a crucial role in England’s journey to the Women’s World Cup final in August. Despite their eventual 1-0 loss to Spain, she was recognized for her outstanding performances and received the Golden Glove for keeping three clean sheets during the tournament.
The goalkeeper for Manchester United had an impressive record of 14 clean sheets in the Super League last season. She was also named England Women’s player of the year and placed fifth in the voting for the 2023 Ballon d’Or Feminin award, making her the highest-ranked goalkeeper in the history of the award.
Her popularity is such that the latest batch of replica Earps England goalkeeper shirts sold out within five minutes in the online store on Monday. Nike had reported a similarly swift sell-out after kits bearing her name had gone on sale in October.
Earps is one of the contenders for the award, alongside Stuart Broad, a retired cricketer who has odds of approximately 8-1. Other nominees include jockey Frankie Dettori, athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett, and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Broad is aiming to be the first cricket player to win the BBC award since Ben Stokes in 2019. He achieved the title of England’s second highest wicket-taker in Test matches with a total of 604, and then announced his retirement on the second to last day of the fifth and final Ashes Test. He also played a crucial role in helping England tie the series against Australia at the Oval, taking a wicket with his last ball and hitting a six with his final bat.
The Liverpool-born heptathlete Johnson-Thompson came back from injury to win her second world title in Budapest this year. Her buildup to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was undermined by an Achilles injury that forced her to pull out but the 30-year-old bounced back with a Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham last year and then conquered the world again in Budapest.
The three-time British Flat racing champion jockey Dettori triumphed in two British classics this year, winning the 2,000 Guineas on Chaldean and the Oaks on Soul Sister, before leaving these shores to ply his trade in the US and is joined on the list by the wheelchair tennis player Hewett and the world No 2 in golf, McIlroy.
The victor of the popular ballot will be revealed during the live broadcast on Tuesday, December 19th.
Source: theguardian.com
