Luke Littler and Keely Hodgkinson could face a two-way battle to win the BBC SPOTY award (Image: GETTY)
has admitted he doesn’t know who Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson is. Hodgkinson clinched Team GB’s first track gold medal since 2016 at the Olympic Games in the summer as she stormed to 800m victory. to win the Sports Personality of the Year award, with Littler currently the second favourite.
Littler has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame over the last year after reaching the World Darts Championship final as a 16-year-old.
He has gone on to win 10 senior tournaments, including the of Darts, where he hit a perfect nine-dart finish on finals night.
Littler was quizzed about the SPOTY award during an interview with this week.
And the 17-year-old explained: “It would be a big thing for myself [if I won] but I’ve not really looked at [it] too much.
“The person in first, is it a runner? I’ve seen a little bit. People don’t really class us as athletes do they? So if I’m second [favourite] to win it, that’ll do.”
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Keely Hodgkinson won gold in the 800m at the Paris Olympics in the summer (Image: GETTY)
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Littler and Hodgkinson face competition for the award from a host of rivals, including cycling hero Mark Cavendish, sailor Ben Ainslie and England cricket ace Joe Root.
But there is no place on the shortlist for Littler’s darts rival Luke Humphries, who defeated the teenager in the showpiece match at the World Championship at the start of January and has been in inspired form this year.
Humphries due to his performance at the oche throughout the year, but has insisted he will still turn up to the event, which takes place on Tuesday, December 17, to show his support for Littler.
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“Of course yeah [I should be in the running],” he explained. “Maybe over the last 12 months, I don’t see any other UK sportsperson that’s dominated a sport and nearly won everything. It’s done on personality isn’t it? It’s not about your achievements.
“It doesn’t bother me too much. I’ll go and I’ll be supporting him and if he wins then it’s good for the sport. It’s nice to be invited, I think they acknowledge it a little bit, what I’ve achieved.
“I think it’s another feather in the cap for the sport. I think Keely Hodgkinson is probably going to win it, isn’t she? But I think Luke could at least win Young Sports Personality of the Year if he doesn’t win the main one. That’s still a nice thing to have for yourself.”