England goalkeeper Mary Earps leads the six nominees to succeed team-mate Beth Mead for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper helped England reach the Women’s World Cup final back in August before eventually losing out 1-0 to winners Spain in the final. Earps was awarded the Golden Glove by keeping three clean sheets throughout the tournament.
The Manchester United stopper is currently the bookmakers runaway favourite to take the award after picking up further accolades. She was named England Women player of the year, came fifth in the voting for the 2023 Ballon d’Or Feminin award – the highest-ever ranking for a goalkeeper – and kept a Women’s Super League record 14 clean sheets for United last season.
Earps is joined on the shortlist by retired cricketer Stuart Broad, former jockey Frankie Dettori, heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Broad will be aiming to become the first cricketer to win the award since 2019 when Ben Stokes collected the award.
He became England’s second leading Test wicket taker with 604 before announcing his retirement on the penultimate day of the fifth and final Ashes Test and helping them draw the series against Australia at the Oval by taking a wicket with his final ball bowled and hitting a six off the last ball he faced.
Liverpool-born Johnson-Thompson came back from injury to win her second world title in Budapest this year.
Her build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was undermined by an Achilles injury which 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.
Three-time British flat racing champion jockey Dettori triumphed in two British classics this year, winning the 2000 Guineas on Chaldean and the Oaks on Soul Sister and is joined on the list by wheelchair tennis player Hewett and world number two in golf McIlroy.
The winner of the public vote will be announced on the night of the live show on Tuesday, December 19.
