Sports personality of the year

rick_chasey said:

RichN95. said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I think it's going to be a landslide for Emma Raducanu and I think it's totally deserved. Coming from the qualifiers to win the US Open is massive... I can't really think of any other performance that gets anywhere near

Tom PIdcock hadn't even done a senior MTB race before May. He was Olympic champion just three months later. And he broke his collarbone in between.

Says more about MTB tbh.

This!

He's a Mountain Biker, not a roadie

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

I think we can write off this discussion for the year.

Will she get it every year if she keeps winning?

That's a massive "if". She is going to come up against players of proven quality in future majors which she really didn't at this one.

She looked really good though.

RichN95. said:

Ok, so there's never been a story like it...... Except

Just two years ago the US Open was won by a Canadian born teenager with a Romanian father who and only previously won two matches at Grand Slams. She had pulled out of her previous Slam tournament for medical reasons. At the start of the season she had been ranked 152nd in the World.

Which is pretty much where Emma Raducanu was ranked when she started US Open qualifying. As incredible as her journey to the 2019 trophy was, Bianca Andreescu won that title as the 15th seed (as befitting her ranking at the time) and didn't have to win 3 matches just to make the main draw. Nor did she win every set she played.

I can see what you're getting at, but there's enough of a difference between them for ER's path to US Open glory to be deemed unprecedented and historic.

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

I think we can write off this discussion for the year.

Will she get it every year if she keeps winning?

That's a massive "if". She is going to come up against players of proven quality in future majors which she really didn't at this one.

She looked really good though.

It felt like Murray won it every year for a while. I'd be tempted to ban repeat winners.

2015 seems like a weird one for him. He didn't win any individual major, but was part of the Davis Cup team. 2013 and 2016 - fair enough.

Shows what a nonsense the whole thing is when Froome got 3% after his second TdF and Farah got 3% after retaining the world titles in 5,000 and 10,000.

Female, young, personable and comes across as fairly bright. Unless she's torturing puppies in her spare time it's about as nailed on as it gets.

Still going to vote for a cyclist, if there is one to make the shortlist....

JimD666 said:

Female, young, personable and comes across as fairly bright. Unless she's torturing puppies in her spare time it's about as nailed on as it gets.

…and recent, which counts for a lot.

mrb123 said:

Sarah Storey really would be a worthy winner but she won't get it. Hopefully they will consider her for a lifetime achievement award at least when she finally packs in.

Again, it sounds a bit mean, but where is the opposition? Paralympics are a bit of a mixed bag... some races are very close, some others are not... on the track she annihilated the opposition, sign that there's not much there... respect to the athlete, but the US Open are a different thing... IMO

ugo.santalucia said:

mrb123 said:

Sarah Storey really would be a worthy winner but she won't get it. Hopefully they will consider her for a lifetime achievement award at least when she finally packs in.

Again, it sounds a bit mean, but where is the opposition? Paralympics are a bit of a mixed bag... some races are very close, some others are not... on the track she annihilated the opposition, sign that there's not much there... respect to the athlete, but the US Open are a different thing... IMO

In the road race she rode on the front the whole time with the other GB rider in her wheel so the GB rider got the silver (as she did in all Storey's events). It was like a Premiership player turning up to your five a side league.

ugo.santalucia said:

mrb123 said:

Sarah Storey really would be a worthy winner but she won't get it. Hopefully they will consider her for a lifetime achievement award at least when she finally packs in.

Again, it sounds a bit mean, but where is the opposition? Paralympics are a bit of a mixed bag... some races are very close, some others are not... on the track she annihilated the opposition, sign that there's not much there... respect to the athlete, but the US Open are a different thing... IMO

Considering Raducanu never lost a set, never even faced a break to lose a set, where was her opposition? I know it doesn't tell the whole story, I didn't watch enough to know if she was taken to break point in every game and she survived despite that. A quick check of the results though show many of the matches were won fairly easily (6-1, 6-0 etc)

What she did was incredible, historic even, but only time will tell if she can back it up. Or is this as good as it gets for her?

Sarah Storey has been doing it year in year out. She has backed it up, time after time.

JimD666 said:

ugo.santalucia said:

mrb123 said:

Sarah Storey really would be a worthy winner but she won't get it. Hopefully they will consider her for a lifetime achievement award at least when she finally packs in.

Again, it sounds a bit mean, but where is the opposition? Paralympics are a bit of a mixed bag... some races are very close, some others are not... on the track she annihilated the opposition, sign that there's not much there... respect to the athlete, but the US Open are a different thing... IMO

Considering Raducanu never lost a set, never even faced a break to lose a set, where was her opposition? I know it doesn't tell the whole story, I didn't watch enough to know if she was taken to break point in every game and she survived despite that. A quick check of the results though show many of the matches were won fairly easily (6-1, 6-0 etc)

What she did was incredible, historic even, but only time will tell if she can back it up. Or is this as good as it gets for her?

Sarah Storey has been doing it year in year out. She has backed it up, time after time.

I don't think it's doing Storey a disservice to say her sport doesn't have the depth of talent or public interest to merit the award.

Peaty was my nailed on favourite before Saturday.

I heard someone on radio saying that women's tennis is currently in a post Serena period of openess with lots of Slam winners - 13 since Serena's last one in 2017. It looked like Osaka would be the dominant force, but is struggling mentally. So they're waiting for the next big stars. It might be Raducanu, it might not. Time will tell if this surprise winner is like Froome at the 2011 Vuelta or Tao at the 2020 Giro. (Maybe being harsh on Tao, but I don't think he'll see another GT podium)

Well, with the greatest respect to Sarah Storey, today, if a woman cyclist is on the short-list (and they certainly deserve to be) then Lizzie Deignan just 'hit the ball out of the velodrome'!

Awesome ride.

Pross said:

I pretty sure winning some weird race on farm tracks in France / Belgium won't be viewed as being as impressive as Paralympic golds. Not that it matters as Radacanu is walking off with the title.

Well we can definitely rule out AJ.