BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

The Youth Sport Trust has helped shortlist three finalists out of the ten nominations for this year’s BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, which recognises Britain’s outstanding young sporting talent. They are:

Tom Daley – diving
Tom is currently one of our I eXcel athletes, which helps high performers still at school excel in their sport and study. He is the youngest ever British World Champion in any sport taking gold in the 10m diving event at the World Championships in Rome.

Heather Watson – tennis
Heather is the Number 1 British junior and ranked the third best Junior in the world. In September 2009, she won the US Open Girls' title at Flushing Meadow.

Jodie Williams –athletics
In July Jodie became the first girl ever to win both the 100m and 200m titles at the IAAF World Youth Championships.

The year’s judging panel includes BBC Sport presenters John Inverdale and Jake Humphrey, Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton, former winners Kate Haywood and Harry Aikines Aryeetey as well as two representatives from the Youth Sport Trust - our Director of Sport Alison Oliver and Director of Communications and Policy, Mark Atkinson.

Ali Oliver, Youth Sport Trust’s Sport Director, said:
“This year’s three finalists for Young Sports Personality of the Year are some of the best ever. The breadth and depth of their experience - competing on the National, European and World stage - at such a young age is truly inspiring. They deserve enormous credit for their achievements and should feel very proud of their successes.”

This year’s winner will be announced live on BBC1's Sports Personality of the Year show on Sunday 13 December 2009 between 7pm and 9pm.

Click here to read more about the three finalists.

Click here to read about the other young athletes nominated this year