Will Ellard flex S14 200m Freestyle GOLD Paris 2024

Ellard shortlisted for Young Sports Personality of the Year

5 Dec 2024

Double Paralympic champion William Ellard has been shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year after an outstanding 2024.

Ellard - who claimed two golds, one silver and a world record on his Paralympic debut in Paris - is one of three athletes to make the shortlist, alongside Olympic skateboarder Sky Brown and darts player Luke Littler.

The winner will be announced live on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show on Tuesday 17th December.

"To be shortlisted for this award means a lot to me. Some of the greats - like Wayne Rooney, Ellie Simmonds, Phil Foden and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix - have won in the past, so to be nominated this year is a special feeling," said Will.

Ellard won Emerging Para-Swimmer of the Year at the recent Aquatics GB Awards 2024, recognising a season of repeated success that included a superb performance at April's Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, four medals - including double gold - at the European Para-Swimming Championships in Madeira later that month, and then a breakthrough Games, which included a title and world record in the S14 200m Freestyle, plus a key part in the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay triumph, a team made up entirely of Paralympic debutants.

As Will alludes to, aquatics athletes have a fine history in the Young Sports Personality of the Year, with multiple Paralympic champion Simmonds (2008), Olympic and World Championship medal-winning diver Spendolini-Sirieix (2020), diving icon Tom Daley (2007, 2009, 2010) and Paralympic gold-medal winners Josef Craig (2012) and Ellie Robinson (2016) having previously won the prize.

In this year's award, an initial list of 10 athletes was drawn up by an expert panel, with Iona Winnifrith - Ellard's Paralympic teammate and ParalympicsGB's youngest medallist in Paris - also on that list, before it was narrowed down to the final three.