Olympic track star Keely Hodgkinson named BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Olympic 800 metres champion Keely Hodgkinson has been voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2024.
The award caps a brilliant 12 months for the 22-year-old in which she claimed gold at the Paris Olympics, successfully defended her European title and set a new British record of one minute 54.61 seconds that made her the sixth fastest woman in history.
Darts prodigy Luke Littler came second in the public vote, while England batter Joe Root took the third-place prize at Tuesday’s ceremony in Salford.
Hodgkinson’s success makes it an unprecedented four years in a row that the award has been won by a woman, following Mary Earps in 2023, Beth Mead in 2022 and Emma Raducanu in 2021.
After being announced as the winner by Sir Chris Hoy, Hodgkinson said on stage: “This year has been absolutely incredible for me.
“I achieved everything I set out to do on the outdoor track, which is kind of rare, so I’m so grateful to be in this position.
"Thank you to everyone who voted at home – I hope you all loved watching Paris just as much as I loved competing in it.”
Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows won the coach of the year award after guiding the athlete to glory, and Hodgkinson said: “I’m actually more excited for my coach to be honest, because I wouldn’t be where I am without him and his guidance that I have had since I was 17.”
The others shortlisted for the award were England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, Paralympic record-breaker Sarah Storey and Olympic triathlon gold-medallist Alex Yee.
Littler – who claimed the Young Sports Personality of the Year prize – became the youngest player to reach the final of the World Darts Championship in January at the age of 16.
Rugby league quadruple winners Wigan were team of the year and Sweden’s Olympic pole vault champion Armand Duplantis took the world sports star award.
It had already been announced that Sir Mark Cavendish was to receive the lifetime achievement award after he claimed a record 35th Tour de France stage win before retiring.
The Helen Rollason Award, recognising outstanding achievement in the face of adversity, went to Dr Mark Prince, founder of the Kiyan Prince Foundation that aims to keep young people away from knife crime through boxing.
The foundation is named after Prince’s son Kiyan, who died aged 15 in 2006 after being stabbed.
The unsung hero award went to 90-year-old Jean Paton, volunteer at the Salterns Sailing Club in Lymington.
Tuesday’s show was presented by Gabby Logan, Alex Scott and Clare Balding, with the BBC having confirmed last month that Gary Lineker had stepped down from his role as co-host after more than 20 years.
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