Keely Hodgkinson named BBC Sports Personality of the Year as new record set
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Athletics golden girl Keely Hodgkinson has been named as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2024. 800m star Hodgkinson, 22, who won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, saw off competition from Luke Littler and Joe Root, who finished second and third respectively, to win the coveted award at the BBC Sport studios in Salford.
Hodgkinson said: "It’s been incredible this year for me. I’m so grateful for everyone voting. And I hope everyone loved watching Paris as much as I loved competing in it. “You look down the list of past winners - not just in track and field - British icons. It’s great to put my name up there as well.”.
Hodgkinson's success marks the first time since the award's inception in 1954 that the main prize has been claimed by women on four successive occasions, following the victories by tennis ace Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Lionesses footballers Beth Mead and Mary Earps in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The first three women to claim the award - swimmer Anita Lonsbrough and athletics stars Dorothy Hyman and Mary Rand - did so in successive years between 1962 and 1964, with Hodgkinson becoming the 16th female to claim the prize. Her victory also strengthens athletics' hold on the award, which has now been won by an athlete on 19 separate occasions, way ahead of Formula One on eight wins and football on seven.
Hodgkinson, from Atherton, Greater Manchester, captivated the country when she claimed Olympic gold in the women's 800m final in Paris on August 5. She ran a time of 1:56.72 to see off the challenge of Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma and Mary Moraa of Kenya, who finished in second and third respectively.
