SPOTY 2011: Who Will Win It?

This years shortlist of nominations for BBC's Sport Personality of the Year award has been criticised, rightly in my opinion, for the lack of any female athletes. Both Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Adlington both became swimming world champions, Payne retaining her 10km open water title from 2009 and Chrissie Wellington won her fourth Ironman world title in 5 years in 2011, all outstanding achievements that haven't been rewarded by the voters. But as the dust has settled, attention has now turned to those that have made the list, namely: 

Mark Cavendish, Darren Clarke, Alastair Cook, Luke Donald, Mo Farah, Dai Greene, Amir Khan, Rory McIlroy, Andy Murray and Andrew Strauss. 

All worthy contenders, I'm sure it would be agreed. So, who's going to win? 

The favourite here at The Skene Skrum is the first in that list, Mark Cavendish. The Manxman has had a phenomenal year, building on previous successes at the Tour de France by adding to his stage win total, taking him to 20 and 6th in the all time list. The difference this year is that he got the revered Green point jersey as well.  

Cavendish also claimed the World Champion title in Denmark, capping off a fine overall performance by the British team. At 26, Cavendish looks to have the best of his career still ahead of him, but this has certainly been a flawless year for him.

Mark Cavendish - SPOTY 2011?

I think that Cavendish's closest rivals for the SPOTY prize will be golfers Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy. The successes of the last week for Donald will still be fresh in the memory as the event comes around, and McIlroy has a universal appeal that will win him a lot of votes on top of those gained for his success in claiming his first major title at the US Open at the Congressional earlier this year.

Mo Farah also has a strong claim for a top 3 position as he has grown and grown in stature in international long distance running, culminating in a 10000m silver and 5000m gold at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. 

In a strong field consisting 3 golfers and 2 cricketers, I think this will be the year of the cyclist.