Here’s the full list of nominees – plus who we think should win – for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 award
Inevitably shortlists are as much about those not in them as those who are.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year list has evolved over the years into a neat digest of six contenders, all of whom represent the very best of their disciplines.
Though the men outnumber the women in the final selection, the panel of judges was diverse and broadly representative. And, well, who’d want the job of excluding the deserving. Tough choices had to be made, and remain to be made in identifying the winner.
Here’s my selection in reverse order:
6. Alex Yee
The quiet assassin of triathlon. Yee’s slender frame and zen mentality contrasts with the relish he takes in running opponents into the ground.
After a near miss in Tokyo, where he took Olympic silver, Yee hit the jackpot with a stunning run to triathlon gold in Paris.
He went on to add a first world title to underscore his dominance of a multi-discipline sport that tests stamina, strategy, technique and heart by the bucket load.
5. Sarah Storey
The oldest of the contenders by 14 years. Who still competes at 47 and wins? Sarah Storey is who.
The C4-C5 cycling road race gold and C5 time trial gold took her personal Paralympic medal tally to 30, 19 of which are golds.
If that were not remarkable enough, Storey began her Olympic career in the pool all of 32 years ago. She also won in the same para-cycling categories at the 2024 World Championships for the tenth time. No matter what she says, don’t bet against her going again in Los Angeles in 2028.
4. Jude Bellingham
Real Madrid player of the year, La Liga player of the year, Champions League young player of the year.
Yes 2024 was indeed the year Bellingham established himself as one of the best in the world. Not many Englishman have been able to say that, despite the mother country’s standing in the global game.
As well as the Champions League and La Liga titles Bellingham also helped England to another European final, an astonishing contribution for one still only 21 years old.
3. Joe Root
Darren Lehman might not agree, but the numbers pointing to Root’s place at the top of the batting pantheon are overwhelming.
Root became England’s all-time leading run-scorer, passing Sir Alastair Cook’s mark of 12,472 in October. The ton he knocked in nailing New Zealand last week was his 36th, drawing level alongside Raul Dravid at fifth spot in the all-time list.
No-one has scored more Test runs this year, 1470 and counting. If Lehman really is waiting for Root to score his first Test century in Australia to acknowledge his eminence, the Ashes is only a year away.
2. Luke Littler
Is darts really a sport? Ha! Sorry Luke, only joking.
No-one asks that anymore following the incredible rise of Luke the Nuke. Just as all golfers learned to appreciate peak Tiger Woods, his rivals love Littler for the eyeballs he brings to the oche, for the growing global demand he has triggered and the increased prize funds.
Though he lost to another brilliant Luke (Humphries) in the PDC World Championship final at just 16, he has won 10 PDC trophies since, thrown down four nine-darters and banked £1m-plus in prize money.
1. Keely Hodgkinson
Girls do not come more golden. It was not so much the winning of the 800m Olympic gold in Paris but the way she did it, to end a run of major championship silvers against her main rivals. In Paris no-one even got close.
She managed the space brilliantly, dominating the heats. On the eve of the final her coach, Jenny Meadows, began to outline over dinner the many scenarios she might encounter in the final. She never got to finish the speech.
Don’t worry, said Keely, whatever they do, I’ve got this. And she had, becoming only the 10th British female to win Olympic track gold. Arise Dame Keely.