Waiting for the second half of the list to be published...
Fury.
Nobody comes close.
Blimey, Cav not even on the list: that was a comeback from a Rocky script
Agreed it was one of the most unexpected comebacks of all time, but possibly waiting till he gets that 1 more stage win and takes the all time record next year. I'd have to give it to Fury tho
Fury.
Nobody comes close.
And if the award was a***hole of the year I'd agree, but a homophobic sexist shouldn't even be on the list.
I'm not very inspired by any of them, but I'd give it to Peaty for being the best in his sport for a sustained period and winning Olympic gold in a very competitive class.
There's personality, and there's being a dick.
Fury is the latter.
SPOTY should go to someone who's a good role model, not some jumped up angry prick, regardless of how good he is at punching people.
Fury has failed too many drug tests. Raducanu will be the Home Counties choice.
Raducanu will obviously win, what she did was completely unprecedented in the history of a highly competitive sport. Tennis players have always done well in SPOTY, not as well as Athletics and Motor Racing, but the most wins after them - mainly due to Andy Murray, who is the only three time winner.
The nominees are picked by a panel of sports 'experts';
the Olympics are a massive factor, so any success there, usually trumps everything else. Unless there is an unusual achievement, which this year there is; Radacanu winning the US Open as a qualifier.
As for Cavendish; yes, probably should be on the list, however, he didn't go to the Olympics, and for the sports panel, a track cyclist winning at the Olympics will trump that.
You could argue, why wasn't Pidcock on the list? Simple, MTB, BMX, etc aren't viewed as 'proper cycling' by those who pick names.
And slightly off topic; but in all these cycling yearly awards, I'm struggling to recall a MTB rider being on any list. And in a year when we have an Olympic champion, and our first XCO Elite World Champion.....
The thread has gone the way of all the previous years then, only (some of) the names have changed 🤣
https://twitter.com/themichaelowen/status/1472673729075425280
The comments 👍 some replies might not be work safe
Well, I really didn’t think Twitter could be that funny 😄
Superb