SPOTY 2016: Leeds sporting heroes in the spotlight
CONTENDERS for the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 have made their way along the red carpet as the awards ceremony gets under way.
Among them are three Leeds sports stars celebrating a year of medal winning and record breaking.
Triathlete Alistair Brownlee has been tipped as one of the favourites to take home the title.
While his gold medal win in the Rio 2016 games made him a strong contender, it was the moment when he helped his stricken brother Jonny over the finish line at a World Series event in Mexico which saw his popularity soar.
As the final preparations were made for tonight’s ceremony in Birmingham, Brownlee was widely considered to be the biggest challenge to the odds-on favourite Andy Murray.
Also flying the flag for Leeds are fellow Rio gold medallists Nicola Adams and Kadeena Cox.
Adams became the first, and only, female boxer to win back-to-back Olympic gold and won her first world championships title to complete a grand slam of medals.
And sprinter Cox, who has multiple sclerosis, set a world record of her won when she won became the first British athlete to win gold in two sports since 1988.
She blitzed the field to win T38 400m gold in a world record time and added 100m bronze and relay silver to her collection before taking a cycling gold in the C4-5 time trial.
The trio were joined by 10 other gold medallists from the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics on an extended 16-strong shortlist, up from 12 nominations for both the 2012 and 2015 awards.
The three remaining nominees include two sports stars from Sheffield – Premier League winning striker Jamie Vardy and Masters winning golf star Danny Willett.
After winning his second Wimbledon title and finishing the tennis year ranked world number one, Murray is the strong favourite to be crowned the first three-time winner in the show’s history.
The shortlist was drawn up by a panel consisting of media representatives and sports stars including Ryan Giggs and Victoria Pendleton.
But the decision about who takes home the award rests on a public vote, with the winner being named as the ceremony draws to a close later this evening.