It’s back. The end of year festivities that celebrate another great twelve months of sporting action from at home and across the globe. The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award will be the 65th edition of the ceremonies. After such a surprise at last year’s event which was won by Mo Farah, punters will be poring over the options ahead for the 2018 honours. England’s Harry Kane is the 11/8 favorite* (betting odds taken on December 11th, 2018 at 4:24 pm).
Sports Personality of the Year 2018 Odds
Harry Kane 11/8
Geraint Thomas 5/2
Lewis Hamilton 5/1
Tyson Fury 10/1
Ronnie O’Sullivan 10/1
Dina Asher-Smith 20/1
Lizzy Yarnold 28/1
Alastair Cook 40/1
Jonathan Rea 40/1
Bar 66/1
* (betting odds taken on December 11th, 2018 at 4:24 pm)
Table of Contents
- 1 Sports Personality of the Year 2018 Odds
- 2 The Nominees
- 3 Harry Kane
- 4 Geraint Thomas
- 5 Lewis Hamilton
- 6 Tyson Fury
- 7 Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 8 Dina Asher-Smith
- 9 Lizzy Yarnold
- 10 Alastair Cook
- 11 Jonathan Rea
- 12 Inaugural Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year Award
- 13 World Sports Star of the Year Odds*
- 14 Some Statistics
The Nominees
There is not an official list of nominees at the SPOTY Awards any more. It’s not revealed who has actually been voted for until the night of the ceremony. So in that regards punters are totally in the dark. But of course there are stand out performers from across the year and the bookmakers do a pretty good job of narrowing the field.
Harry Kane
The England striker won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup, helping England reach the semi-finals of the competition.
Geraint Thomas
The Welsh cyclist created some fantastic history for himself as he won the Tour de France in 2018.
Lewis Hamilton
Won the F1 Drivers World Championship for the fifth time in his career. Only Michael Schumacher has won more (7)
Tyson Fury
The comeback king. After stepping away from the sport, former World Champion Fury came back this year to take on Deontay Wilder in a battle which ended in a draw, Fury having been knocked down twice
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Rocket created more history for himself this year as he became the most successful player in the history of the UK Championship with a seventh title there
Dina Asher-Smith
The young sprinter had a stellar time at the 2018 European Championship, winning three golds in the 100m, 200m and relay. She also took two medals at the Commonwealth Games.
Lizzy Yarnold
The Yarnold took a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the Skeleton event. After gold in 2014, she became the first ever British athlete to defend a Winter Olympic title.
Alastair Cook
The former England captain retired from international duty this year, scoring a century in his final test match for his country
Jonathan Rea
The Northern Ireland Superbike rider won his fourth straight World Championship this year, dominating the second half of the season, winning eleven races on the bounce
Inaugural Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year Award
England’s historic netball gold
England win penalty shootout
Alastair Cook’s farewell century
Tiger Woods’ first win in five years
Tyson Fury fights back from knockdowns
World Sports Star of the Year Odds*
Simone Biles 4/6
Francesco Molinari 5/4
Oleksandr Usyk 7/1
Ester Ledecka 16/1
* (betting odds taken on December 11th, 2018 at 4:24 pm)
We actually know the nominees for this category as they were announced on December 3rd. American gymnast Biles is the clear 4/6 favourite* (betting odds taken on December 11th, 2018 at 4:24 pm) after winning six medals at this year’s World Championship (four golds). Golfer Francesco Molinari won all five of his Ryder Cup matches for Europe this year, won on the PGA for the first time in his career and won the European Race To Dubai title.
Boxer Oleksandr Usyk managed to unify the WBO and WBC cruiserweight titles this year, then went on to add three more belts in 2018. He defended all his titles in his final match of the year against Tony Bellew. Ester Ledecka created some history in becoming the first woman to win two winter Olympic titles in different sports at the same games.
Some Statistics
Athletics is the sport which has produced the most SPOTY Winners (18)
The last footballer to win was Ryan Giggs in 2009
Each of the last six winners have been either Scottish or English
There have been 48 English wins at the SPOTY Awards
There have only been three occasions where a non-UK athlete has been in the top three
Predictions
After outright favourite Anthony Joshua didn’t get the win last year, it has thrown all sorts of confusion into the 2019 Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It’s not only that, this is a hard one to call as well. With regards to the likes of Harry Kane and Tyson Fury, the award is not necessarily about winning stuff, it’s about achieving the most.
We don’t see Ronnie O’Sullivan getting enough recognition, while Chris Froome has been overlooked in recent years despite Tour de France wins. So Geraint Thomas may not get the nod. Because of the recent fight that Tyson Fury had against Deontay Wilder, that should boost his votes. Harry Kane scored six goals at the World Cup, but three were from the penalty spot and just one of them were from open play. He failed to score in either the quarter-finals, semi-finals or the third-place playoff.
So really for our Sports Personality of the Year 2019 Award, it all comes back around to Lewis Hamilton for us. That was some season which he put in to equal Juan Manuel Fangio. Just two more titles stand between Hamilton now and catching Michael Schumacher.
