Full List of BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 Award

Full List of BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 Award

Sixteen contenders have been shortlisted for the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

The 16 for 2016 were named after a year of great British sporting success, including at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio.

A shortlist of 16 contenders have been nominated for the prestigious main award, up from 12 in 2015.

They will go forward to a vote on the night of the live show in Birmingham on Sunday, 18 December. The nominees are:

• Nicola Adams – Boxing
• Gareth Bale – Football
• Alistair Brownlee – Triathlon
• Sophie Christiansen – Equestrian
• Kadeena Cox – Athletics/Cycling
• Mo Farah – Athletics
• Jason Kenny – Cycling
• Laura Kenny – Cycling
• Andy Murray – Tennis
• Adam Peaty – Swimming
• Kate Richardson-Walsh – Hockey
• Nick Skelton – Equestrian
• Dame Sarah Storey – Cycling
• Jamie Vardy – Football
• Max Whitlock – Gymnastics
• Danny Willett – Golf

Bale will be aiming to become just the fifth Welsh winner in the award’s history after lifting the Champions League with Real Madrid and inspiring Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

Jamie Vardy is a 100/1 outsider on the shortlist to win the award with his Leicester City side in contention to scoop the Team of the Year following their Premier League title heroics.

The shortlist is compiled by a 12-member panel:

• Representatives from BBC Sport: Barbara Slater (Director, BBC Sport), Philip Bernie (Head of TV Sport) and Carl Doran (Executive Editor, BBC Sports Personality of the Year)
• Former nominees of an award: Ryan Giggs, Victoria Pendleton and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
• Representative from BBC Radio 5 live: Amy Lawrence
• Pan-sports broadcaster: Ore Oduba
• Representatives from sports journalism: David James (Sunday Mirror/Sunday People), Adam Sills (Daily/Sunday Telegraph) and Alison Kervin (Mail on Sunday)
• Representative from UK sports industry: Liz Nicholl (Chief Executive, UK Sport)