After defending his Olympic Gold, Andy Murray is odds on favourite to take the Sports Personality of the Year award this year. The British number one broke out into tears after having beaten Juan Martin del Potro in the final of the Rio 2016 tennis event, a gruelling affair against the big-hitting Argentine. But Murray’s sensational back to back Olympic gold haul now means that he is probably untouchable in the SPOTY 2016 betting and he could create history in becoming the first ever sportsperson to win it in back to back years.
Naturally with Britain going so well at the Olympics, a bunch of Olympians have seen their odds slashed in the 2016 Sports Personality of the Year Award market. You have Max Whitlock, a double gold medal winning gymnast right in at 5/1 from absolutely nowhere in the field and cyclist Jason Kenny has come down into 10/1 after claiming his fifth Olympic gold medal.
You have a 12/1 shot on Kenny’s fiance Laura Trott winning the tile and Mo Farah is right up there as a 4/1 shot with yet more gold having been added to his collection as well. But it is Murray who is the outright leader at a price of 5/6 and with the US Open title shot still to come this year, if he was to claim that as well then he would be an absolute lock for the SPOTY award. You can take a shot at 2/1 on Murray being knighted in the 2016/17 New Year’s Honours List.
Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: “Despite there still being a fair few months to go it’s looking increasingly impossible to see any one outside of Rio 2016 emerge as this year’s BBC SPOTY winner.”
She added: “With both Wimbledon and Olympic gold under his belt the odds suggest it’s a case of when and not if we’re calling him Sir Andy.”
SPOTY 2016 Outright Odds
Andy Murray 5/6
Mo Farah 4/1
Max Whitlock 5/1
Jason Kenny 10/1
Laura Trott 12/1
Gareth Bale 16/1
Anthony Joshua 20/1
Adam Peaty 20/1
Bradley Wiggins 25/1
33/1 bar
