Sports Personality Of The Year 2023

On the 19th of December is the BBC Sports Personality of the Year celebrates its platinum birthday, and a lot has changed in its 70-year history. Athletics star Cristopher Chataway was the first ever Winner of the Sports Personality of the Year award in 1954 and after that many amazing sports people have won including Lewis Hamilton (2 times), Emma Raducanu, Andy Murray (3 times), Bobby Moore and Fatima Whitbread. Many athletes from different sports have won over the years with Athletics at the top with 18 wins followed by Formula 1 with 8 Wins. Athletes from a total of 27 different sports have won the award over its 70 years.

Every year there are 8 categories for the awards:

- Sports Personality of the Year

- World Sport Star of the Year

- Helen Rollason award

- Young Sports Personality of the Year

- Unsung Hero

- Coach of the Year

- Team of the Year

- Lifetime Achievement Award

Top Scorer and player of the tournament in the Euro’s 2022, Beth Mead, won Sports Personality of the Year in 2022. With this year’s award ceremony coming up here are some of the potential winners, from the shortlist which is chosen by a group of Journalists and former sportspeople. Every year people tend to disagree, however this year has seemed to cause some upset with the shortlist not including the Scottish middle distance runner, Josh Kerr who won a world championship Gold against all odds at the World championships in Budapest. It is always going to happen that people disagree with the shortlist as sports personalities can resonate with different people in different ways.

The 2023 Nominees

Mary Earps

Mary Earps plays for Manchester United and is the Goalkeeper for the English women’s team, The Lionesses. Mary was able to secure the Golden Glove Award at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, England Women’s Player of the Year and Women’s Super League Golden Glove. This has been an incredibly successful year for Mary on and off the pitch.

Stuart Broad

Regarded as one of the best test bowlers of all time, Stuart Broad has helped England flourish in the world of international cricket; earlier this year Stuart retired. Broad has 4 Ashes wins under his belt along with the 2010 T20 World Cup win. Stuart ended his career with a sensational last ball, which he bowled taking a wicket in the last match of the Ashes this year despite Australia retaining the Ashes. If you want to read more his newly published biography Broadly Speaking is a fantastic insight into his 17-year long career.

Rory McIlroy

This year, golfer Rory helped secure Europe’s victory at the Ryder Cup over a thrilling weekend of golf which ended with the score 16.5 – 11.5 to Europe. In the tournament Rory won 4 out of his 5 matches and he won the Scottish Open too this year.

Alfie Hewett

Alfie Hewett is a British professional wheelchair tennis player who has had an incredible year ending this year as world number one in singles and in doubles. Alfie has won two Grand Slams in singles this year and 3 Grand Slams in Doubles this year, including the Australian and US Opens. Overall, an exceptional year for the tennis player.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Over recent years, the Liverpudlian Heptathlete has struggled with injury however this year Katarina won her second World Heptathlon title at the World Championships in Budapest. With fierce competition around the world Katarina will have her eyes set on the Olympics next summer in hopes of her first medal.

Frankie Dettori

Frankie Dettori, at the age of 52, said he would retire this year, finishing off his last year in the UK winning Royal Ascot. Frankie has won 30 races in total this year and after initially announcing his retirement he has decided to continue his racing career in America.

As always, every year the favourites are revealed and the bookies release their odds, with Mary Earps this year running up the charge to win. It’s always exciting to see the outcome and this year is filled with amazing people who are all close with their achievements. Personally, I would like Rory Mcllroy to win as I watched every day of the Ryder cup and was in awe of the performance he made with the team; it was completely dominant and even when it came close towards the last day and America slowly started to come back, they all put in amazing performances and Rory, with top points scored and 4 out of 5 matches won stands out completely. McIlroy is a surprise entrance into this year’s shortlist to many however, he narrowly missed out to Lewis Hamilton in 2014 for the award (which is hard as Hamilton is my sporting Hero!) however; I believe he does deserve it from not only his previous years of excellence but this year’s also. Whatever the outcome this is a thrilling event, celebrating 70 Years in 2023, and is always a great celebration of sport.

Ethan, Marketing Team