Luke Littler named on six-strong Sports Personality of the Year shortlist | BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Luke Littler will have a chance to become the youngest winner of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award in more than 60 years after being named in a six-strong shortlist led by Paris 2024 Olympic stars Keely Hodgkinson and Alex Yee.

England footballer Jude Bellingham, cricketer Joe Root and Paralympian Sarah Storey complete the list. But surprisingly, there is no place for Mark Cavendish in a year in which he broke Eddy Merckx’s record for Tour de France stage wins.

Victory would make Littler, who turned 17 in January, the second-youngest winner after Scottish swimmer Ian Black in 1958. His nomination is reward for a remarkable 12 months in which he went from an almost complete unknown to the final of the PDC World Darts Championship, 16 years old, and won more than £1m in prize money.

Littler, who was also nominated for the Young Personality of the Year award last week, tweeted his appreciation on Monday, saying: “This is MADDDD. First young sports personality and now sports personality of the year. Huge thanks to BBC Sport for nominating me – never thought I would say so.”

He is now second favorite with the bookies but faces strong competition from Hodgkinson, whose impressive 800m gold medal win in Paris has made her the one to beat.

Hodgkinson, who also won the European title in Rome, could become the fourth woman in a row to claim the award, following US Open tennis winner Emma Raducanu in 2021 and English footballers Beth Mead and Mary Earps in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Yee is also likely to attract strong support, given his extraordinary comeback to win the men’s Olympic triathlon gold medal after catching Hayden Wilde in a thrilling final.

Root earns his nomination after overtaking Sir Alastair Cook to become England’s highest Test scorer, while Bellingham was named La Liga player of the season, helped his club win the Spanish title and the Champions League and was a key cog in England’s run to the European Championships 2024 final.

Meanwhile, 47-year-old Storey, who took two Paralympic cycling gold medals in Paris, is bidding to become the oldest winner, beating 44-year-old Dai Rees, who successfully captained Great Britain and Ireland’s Ryder Cup team in 1957.

Asked about the exclusion of Cavendish, Storey replied: “I would have loved to have shared the list with Cav. But by the same token, if we can get a cyclist back to the top, as Cav and Bradley Wiggins have won in the past, then that would be fantastic to be able to represent not just the whole world of cycling, but all of the ParalympicsGB team, as well as mums of a certain age and women who wanted to play sport across so many different communities.”

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 17 December during a show presented by Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott.