Sports Personality of the Year betting: Earps favourite for BBC award
Published:
England Women’s goalkeeper Mary Earps is the red-hot favourite in Coral’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year betting following the unveiling of the final six contenders today.
The 30-year-old helped England reach the Women’s World Cup final in August before eventually losing 1-0 to Spain in the final.
Earps was awarded the Golden Glove by keeping three clean sheets throughout the tournament.
The Manchester United stopper is 1/7 to succeed England team-mate Beth Mead in taking the award to add to her other 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 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, jockey Frankie Dettori, heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett and golfer Rory McIlroy.
Broad is the second favourite in the Sports Personality of the Year betting and is 10/1 to become the first cricketer to win the award since Ben Stokes in 2019.
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.
Hewett was 2023 Australian Open and US Open singles champion, and also claimed three of the four grand slam titles on offer in doubles alongside Gordon Reid, while McIlroy was the top points scorer in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory.
Coral’s David Stevens said: “The six people in contention to be crowned Sports Personality would all be worthy winners, although the odds say it is Mary Earps who has one of her extremely safe hands on the trophy already.”
The winner of the public vote will be announced on the night of the live show on Tuesday December 19.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year betting odds
1/7 Mary Earps
10/1 Stuart Broad
16/1 Frankie Dettori, Katarina Johnson-Thompson
25/1 Rory McIlroy
50/1 Alfie Hewett
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
