A particular celebration of the perfect of British sport is coming to Sky Sports activities on Wednesday.
The winners of this yr’s British Sports activities Awards, an annual occasion organised by the Sports activities Journalists’ Affiliation, will likely be introduced all through the day dwell on Sky Sports activities Information and Sky Sports activities’ social and digital platforms.
The highest trio of awards are for the Sportsman, Sportswoman and Group of the 12 months.
The occasion has a prestigious 75-year historical past and earlier winners embrace David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Emma Raducanu, Torvill and Dean, and the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning England staff.
The Sports activities Journalists’ Affiliation (SJA) is the most important nationwide organisation of its variety on the earth, made up of over 900 sports activities media professionals, together with writers, broadcasters, photographers and content material creators.
The British Sports activities Awards, that are sponsored by the Nationwide Lottery, date again to 1949.
Together with the three most important classes, a collection of extra honours are made every year, resembling a devoted prize for para-athletes and an award recognising contributions to equality and inclusion, supported by Sky Sports activities and Kick It Out.
In 2023, the SJA Sportsman of the 12 months was England cricketer Stuart Broad; the Sportswoman was Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps; and Treble winners Manchester Metropolis FC had been named Group of the 12 months.
The 2024 contenders
SJA members have a free vote to pick their ‘best of British’ from the sporting successes of the previous 12 months.
Younger sportswriters from the SJA Academy assist to current the case for among the main candidates, primarily based on the energy of their achievements. Their picks for this yr had been:
Sportsman
- Jude Bellingham (soccer) – gained the UEFA Champions League and LaLiga with Actual Madrid, and helped England attain the Euro 2024 last
- Alfie Hewett (wheelchair tennis) – claimed the primary Wimbledon singles title of his profession and gained gold and silver medals on the Paris Paralympics
- Luke Littler (darts) – gained the Premier League and World Sequence titles and was runner-up within the World Championship
- Lando Norris (F1) – the McLaren driver was victorious at three Grands Prix and has challenged for the world title
- Tom Pidcock (biking) – retained his Olympic mountain-biking title in thrilling vogue and gained cross-country bronze on the World Championships
- Joe Root (cricket) – turned England’s highest Check run-scorer of all time and has now hit greater than 50 worldwide centuries
- Alex Yee (triathlon) – gained the Olympic particular person title and the World Championship collection title, each for the primary time in his profession
Sportswoman
- Lucy Bronze (soccer) – gained a continental Quadruple with Barcelona and is the seventh most-capped Lioness of all time
- Emma Finucane (biking) – claimed three medals at Paris 2024, the primary British lady since 1964 to attain this at a single summer season Olympics
- Jodie Grinham (archery) – gained two Paralympic medals and made Video games historical past in competing whereas pregnant
- Keely Hodgkinson (athletics) – clinched Olympic 800m gold, retained her European title, and ran the sixth quickest time ever over the space within the Diamond League
- Bryony Web page (trampoline gymnastics) – turned Olympic champion for the primary time in her profession, and gained particular person and synchro titles on the European Championships
- Sarah Storey (biking) – gained her nineteenth gold medal on the Paralympics and took her general Video games tally to 30 – solely three para-athletes have gained extra
Group
- England males’s soccer – reached their second consecutive UEFA European Championship last and retained their top-four FIFA World Rating
- GB Olympics diving – runners-up on the Olympics with 5 medals behind China’s clear sweep, having gained seven medals on the World Championships earlier in 2024
- GB Olympics rowing – achieved their best-ever medal haul at an abroad Olympics, profitable eight, together with three gold
- INEOS Britannia (crusing) – victory over Italy within the Louis Vuitton Cup secured a historic America’s Cup showdown as Britain’s first challenger on the earth’s oldest sporting competitors for 60 years
- McLaren F1 – with three Grands Prix to go, the staff tops the Constructors’ Championship standings having gained 5 GPs thus far
- Wigan Warriors (rugby league) – gained a ‘Grand Slam’ quadruple, the second within the membership’s historical past, of Tremendous League, League Leaders’ Protect, Problem Cup, and World Membership Problem
The members’ votes have been tallied and SJA President Darren Lewis will likely be readily available within the Sky Sports activities Information studio to disclose the winners.
The opposite SJA British Sports activities Awards to be introduced on Wednesday are:
- The Nationwide Lottery Spirit of Sport Award – recognising a task mannequin who evokes others by dedication and truthful play
- The Invoice McGowran Trophy – a first-of-its-kind award for incapacity sport when launched in 1963, and named after a two-time SJA chair, this class is for high-achieving para-athletes of the yr
- The Pat Besford Award – named after the primary lady to chair the SJA, this honours the excellent efficiency of the yr
- The J.L. Manning Award – for companies to sport off the sphere of play. Previous winners on this class embrace athletes, coaches and directors; it’s named after an OBE-winning former SJA chair
- The Peter Wilson Trophy – recognising the breakthrough athletes of the yr in each males’s and ladies’s sports activities, named after a legendary sportswriter often called ‘The Man They Couldn’t Gag’
- The SJA President’s, SJA Chair’s, and SJA Committee Awards – a trio of prizes specifically chosen by the Affiliation
- The Sky Sports activities | Kick It Out Award – first awarded in 2021, recognising a person’s contribution to equality and inclusion
Watch interviews with a number of star names as they’re introduced as SJA British Sports activities Award winners dwell on Sky Sports activities all through the day on Wednesday November 20.
