Sport's Personality of the Year 2022: Who's in the shortlist?

(Clockwise from top left) Jessica Gadirova, Beth Mead, Eve Muirhead, Jake Wightman, Ben Stokes and Ronnie O'Sullivan

The shortlist for the BBC's Sport Personality of the Year award have been announced.

Gymnast Jessica Gadirova, England and Arsenal striker Beth Mead and England cricket captain Ben Stokes are among the shortlist for 2022.

The other sport stars nominated include curling's Eve Muirhead, snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan and athlete Jake Wightman.

The ceremony takes place on Wednesday 21 December in MediaCity in Salford and voting will be open during the show on BBC One.

You can find a full list of the athletes nominated for the Sports Personality of the Year award 2022 further down this page.

What is the Sport's Personality of the Year (SPOTY)?

The BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year is a special ceremony to honour the best sporting achievements which have happened in the UK during the year.

BBC presenters Gary Lineker, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott will present the awards this year, which is the 69th year of the programme.

The show will celebrate 12 months of incredible and jam-packed sporting action, including England's Lionesses' historic Euro 2022 win, plus the Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

Remember earlier on the year, there was also a Winter Olympics in Beijing and a Commonwealth Games in Birmingham which happened during the summer.

And in the autumn we've had three Rugby League World Cups, with England winning the wheelchair competition, and the women's Rugby World Cup as well. Woah!

The Sport's Personality contenders

Age: 18 Sport: Gymnastics

Jessica Gadirova made history at the World Gymnastics Championships this year.

She finished third in the women's all-around final, taking home a bronze medal. This was really exciting as it was the first women's individual all-around medal won by a British gymnast at the World Championships.

The gymnast also won a gold for her floor routine and a silver in the team event.

Jessica is on the Young Sports Personality shortlist too with skateboarder Sky Brown and diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.

"I'm just so shocked to be in that shortlist with such incredible athletes and to be recognised for my hard work and achievements, it's incredible," she said.

Age: 27 Sport: Football

Footballer Beth Mead was voted England's Player Of The Year in 2022, after the England teams historic win at the Euros this summer.

And now she's in the running for SPOTY... just to add to her small list of achievements this year!

She scored six goals and contributed five assists during the international tournament.

Age: 31 Sport: Cricket

England's Cricket captain Ben Stokes is no stranger to SPOTY. In fact, he won the BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year in 2019.

But can he get a double victory?

The captain shone bright this year as England won the men's T20 World Cup by beating Pakistan in a thrilling final.

He was under a lot of pressure at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, but England won with six balls to spare. Ben Stokes hit the winning runs, continuing his success with the bat by finishing on 52 not out.

Age: 32 Sport: Curling

Captain Eve Muirhead led the Great Britain women's curling team to win a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

It's the first time in twenty years that Great Britain have won Olympic gold in the women's curling, they last finished top of the podium back in 2002.

This was Eve's fourth Olympic games and she leaves a legacy behind as Scotland's most decorated curler, including winning 11 gold medals in Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships.

"I look back and I still wonder how I got myself through lockdown, Covid, everything. It was such a rollercoaster, standing on the top of the podium at the end of it all was very, very special," she told BBC Sport.

Age: 47 Sport: Snooker

Snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed his seventh World Championship this year and became one of snooker's all-time greats.

When he was 46, he also became the oldest world champion in snooker history.

The English player holds almost every major record in the game and also won the Champion of Champions and Hong Kong Masters in 2022.

Age: 28 Sport: Athletics

Jake Wightman won the 1500m gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon this year.

He became the first British man to win the world title in the event in almost 40 years since 1983.

"It's that moment you cross the line, it's just such euphoria...

"The disbelief and the shock are something that I will never have again."

The world champion also won 800m silver at the European Championships and 1500m bronze at the Commonwealth Games.