BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020

Lewis Hamilton has had another record-breaking year at Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, winning 11 out of 15 races he has entered this season, meaning that he has equalled the all-time F1 World Drivers Championship wins record of seven, previously held by Michael Schumacher since the 2004 season.

To put this into context, prior to Schumacher winning seven world championships, the previous record was held by Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio all the way back in 1957, when he won his fifth drivers title whilst driving for Maserati. This season Hamilton also broke Schumacher’s record of most single F1 race wins which stood at 91, the British driver currently has 95 wins to his name.

Alongside Hamilton’s incredible personal achievement, he also helped his team to win a seventh Constructors Championship in a row, which broke the record Ferrari set in 2004 of six in a row.

Hamilton’s team has now won seven out of a possible eight constructors titles since he joined the team back in 2013, with the Stevenage born driver being the team’s top points scorer in six out of their seven title wins.

All of the achievements which have been listed above means that Hamilton to win Sports Personality of the Year again is down at 2/5, as he leads the way in the shortlist.

Second favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan comes in at 5/1. O’Sullivan won the 2020 World Snooker Championship with some very impressive displays, as he showed great character to comeback from 14–16 down in his semi-final against Mark Selby to win 17–16. The man who is nicknamed 'The Rocket' then defeated Kyren Wilson 18–8 in the final, which resulted in O’Sullivan winning his sixth world title, seeing him set a new record of 37 career ranking titles and 20 titles in the Triple Crown Series.

O’Sullivan’s world title win at the age of 44 years and 254 days meant that he became the oldest player to win one since Ray Reardon in 1978. Reardon was incidentally O’Sullivan’s coach when he won the world title in 2004.

The greatest of all-time also made his 28th consecutive Crucible appearance, meaning that he also holds the record for the most appearances at the competition, surpassing former seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry’s record of 27 consecutive appearances.

Click here to claim Ronne O'Sullivan to win Sports Personality of the Year at 5/1.

Tyson Fury, 32, has had arguably the most chaotic rollercoaster ride out of all sportsmen in the past two years. Earlier in 2020, Fury won the Ring heavyweight title and the WBC heavyweight title following his win against Deontay Wilder in February.

Fury’s crowning moment came in a rematch against Wilder who he had controversially drawn against in December 2018 when most deemed that it should’ve been a clear win for the 'Gypsy King'. The fighter from Wythenshawe had come back from excruciating adversity as he had suffered from mental health issues following his historic win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.

Fury has since transpired the way we look at mental health and become a true hero to many across the world through the power of mental perseverance and sport, and the heavyweight champ has become one of the country's most loved athletes, and rightfully so.

Following the first meeting between Wilder and Fury, the pair triggered a rematch clause meaning that they would face each other again where Fury came out on top with a TKO victory in round seven, meaning that despite all that the Manchester-born had gone through, he had done it once more and became the heavyweight world champion.

2019/2020 saw Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson have his best season to date. Last season, Liverpool picked up from where they left off from the previous campaign, as they started the new season as champions of Europe having beaten Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League final at the Wanda Metropolitano in May 2019.

Liverpool would then go on to win the UEFA Super Cup following a penalty shootout win against Chelsea and the FIFA Club World Cup in December where they beat Brazilian side Flamengo 1-0 in the final, thanks to an extra-time winner by Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool had already had a successful year going into 2020, but there was one trophy which had eluded the Anfield based club since the league was reformed in 1992, the Premier League title. Liverpool went on to win their first league title in 30 years to cap off what had been a record-breaking year for them, meaning that as captain, Henderson will forever go down in his club’s folklore and was even voted as their Player of the Season.

Henderson to win BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award is now down at 10/1.

Holly Doyle comes in at 20/1 having had a year which includes some unprecedented achievements in the world of horse racing. In October, Doyle became the first-ever female jockey to ride a winner on Champions Day at Ascot, steering Trueshan to victory in the Long Distance Cup.

This was followed by her winning at Glen Shiel in her first Group one where she won the Champions Sprint.To add to this, Doyle rode her first Group race winner at Newmarket last July on Dame Malliot in the Princess of Wale’s Stakes on the July course and in August she also won the Rose of Lancaster Stakes.

If these achievements weren’t already impressive enough, on 29th August, she became the first female jockey to win five races on the same card in Britain, doing so at Windsor Racecourse, as well as riding her 117th winner of the season in October. This would break the previous record for a female jockey set by herself in 2019, deservedly earning herself Times Sportswoman of the year and a nomination for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, where Doyle is now 20/1.

2020 saw England stalwart Stuart Broad reaffirm his status as England's top bowler next to James Anderson, which saw Broad take 29 wickets at an impressive average of 13.41 over five tests against the likes of the West Indies and Pakistan. This included a vital 10-wicket haul in the decisive third test victory over the Windies at Old Trafford.

To the surprise of many, Broad was out of favour despite being in great form following England’s winter series win in South Africa, publicly expressing his dismay at being omitted from the England team. The 34-year-old would mark his comeback against the West Indies with six very important wickets which helped square the series in the second test, of which Broad then bettered this feat with a Player of the Match display one game later.

At the same time, this saw the 34-year-old get his 500th wicket, bowling out Kraigg Brathwaite on the final morning, as well as achieving a remarkable 33-ball fifty from No.10 - the third-fastest by an England player.

By the end of the summer campaign, the Nottinghamshire cricketer was seventh on the all-time list of test wicket-takers, with 514 at 27.65 in 143 Tests. Now, Stuart Broad to win Sports Personality of the Year is priced at 100/1.