Recency bias can play a huge part when it comes to dishing out awards and sometimes the top prizes are not always presented to the most deserving candidates but that won’t be the case at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December.
It is shaping up to be a vintage year with England winning the Women’s European Championship and the Women’s Rugby World Cup, leaving Chloe Kelly as the 10/11 favourite with William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral among others to claim the prestigious prize after her ice-cool finishing for the Lionesses.
Ellie Kildunne, meanwhile, is an intriguing each-way option at 20/1 with Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet to finish in the top three after her sensational play for the Red Roses.
If either other those two national treasures were to win it would be the fifth year in a row that a female sports star has prevailed with Emma Raducanu victorious in 2021 after her dramatic ride to US Open success in New York, Lionesses Beth Mead and Mary Earps finishing top of the poll in 2022 and 2023 after that success at the Euros and heartbreak in the World Cup final respectively and Keely Hodgkinson taking the prize last year after her brilliant gold medal in the women’s 800metres at the Paris Olympics.
Sandwiched between the two Special Ks of Kelly and Kildunne in the betting, however, is Rory McIlroy.
He looks the obvious choice to land the award after completing the career grand slam of majors by winning the Masters at Augusta in April, then showing enormous skill as well as mental strength and resolve both on the Bethpage Black golf course and off it during Europe’s astonishing Ryder Cup triumph.
McIlroy is a standout 6/4 with BoyleSports to the first golfer to win the trophy since 1989 when Nick Faldo beat Frank Bruno and Steve Davis to the title.
McLaren driver Lando Norris could cause an upset if he were to win the Formula One world championship, however, with that recency bias playing its part after the final Grand Prix of the year in Abu Dhabi on December 7 – not long before the big night.
Norris is currently second in the standings, just 22 points behind team-mate Oscar Piastri, after the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and with six more races to go there’s a chance he can finish in pole position – making ]him superb each-way value at 33/1 with Sky Bet for SPOTY glory.
Darts odds
World champion Luke Littler has no difficulty in hitting doubles to finish matches but he will have to prove he is just as good at nailing them at the start of contests if he is to win the World Grand Prix in Leicester, having not enjoyed himself last year.
Players are required to find a double to commence scoring so it is something of a surprise the 18-year-old has bombed out in the first round in his two previous attempts at this format.
Belgium’s Mike De Decker is the defending champion but preference goes to Luke Humphries, the 2024 runner-up, and he is 13/2 to win the title with SpreadEx and Sporting Index.
Tennis odds
Novak Djokovic is the 6/4 favourite with Sporting Index and SpreadEx to win the Shanghai Masters after a leg injury forced Jannik Sinner to withdraw from the tournament.
Djokovic faces unseeded Jaume Munar in the last 16 after fighting back from a set down to beat Yannick Hanfmann but is 8/13 with those two firms and bet365 to win in straight sets and books a place in the quarter-finals.