Tom Brady, Max Verstappen and Novak Djokovic among Sports Personality of the year nominees
The BBC announced its Sports Personality of the Year’s World Sport Star of the Year nominees this morning, with its public vote starting now.
The World Sport Star of the Year nominees include Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (Mexico, boxing), Rachael Blackmore (Ireland, horse racing), Tom Brady (USA, American football), Novak Djokovic (Serbia, tennis), Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica, athletics) and Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Formula 1).
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez made history in November by beating Caleb Plant to become the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion. He is also the first Mexican and only the sixth fighter since the WBO began sanctioning world-title fights in 1988 to hold all four belts from the separate governing bodies at the same time.
Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and then a few weeks later won the Grand National at Aintree – no other woman had ever finished in the first four of the famous race which takes place over more than four miles and 30 fences.
Widely considered the greatest NFL player of all time, Tom Brady steered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55 to extend his record to seven wins. Brady threw three touchdown passes during the game and at 43 years and 188 days he became the oldest player to play in the biggest game in US sport.
World number-one Novak Djokovic won three of the major Grand Slam events in 2021 after victories at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon taking his career total to 20.
Recently-crowned World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year, sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah secured three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics this summer in the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m finals. In the 100m final, she achieved the second-equal fastest time in history, setting both a Jamaican national record as well as the Olympic record of 10.61 seconds.
In 2021, racing driver Max Verstappen has been involved in one of the most intense Formula 1 championship battles for years. Seeking his first World Championship, the Red Bull driver was level on points with Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time champion, with one race to go. The Dutchman’s victories included one at his home grand prix in September, where he was cheered on by 65,000 enthusiastic fans.
BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2021 takes place in Salford on December 19.