Three Paralympians up for Top Sporting Award

The BBC have announced that three female Paralympians are among the 16 contenders for Sports Personality of the Year.

GB medal winners Dame Sarah Storey, Sophie Christiansen and Kadeena Cox have all be nominated for the prestigious award.

Also in the running is tennis superstar Andy Murray, boxer Nicola Adams and triathlete Alastair Brownlee. Of the 16 names on this year’s shortlist, 13 of them achieved  success at either the Olympics or the Paralympics, with footballers Gareth Bale and Jamie Vardy, and golfer Danny Willett the only exceptions.

While no Paralympian has won the main award,  following the incredible achievements of ParalymicsGB this could be the year that a Paralympic star takes home the title.  Check out our rundown of the three Paralymian nominees below.

Congratulations #sarahstorey on your 12th Paralympic gold medal. The most successful British female Paralympian of all time. #paralympics #britishcycling #veledrome #rio2016 🏅

A photo posted by Henry Hunt (@henryhuntphoto) on Sep 8, 2016 at 1:38pm PDT

Dame Sarah Storey, 39, Cyclist 

Sarah is Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian in history Sarah topped Tanni Grey-Thompson’s gold medal haul of 11 after she won three gold medals at Rio this summer.  Sarah now has a grand total of 14 golds across from swimming and cycling events and is also a 27-time World champion (5 in swimming and 22 in cycling), a 21-time European champion (18 in swimming and 3 in cycling) and holding 72 world records.

Storey was born without a functioning left hand after her arm became entangled in the umbilical cord in the womb and lives at home with husband, tandem pilot and coach Barney Storey and their three-year-old daughter, Louisa.

 

 

Golden girl. Sophie Christiansen earned another gold in the equestrian earlier 😃 #paralympicsgb #paralympics #rio2016 #greatbritain #equestrian #sophiechristiansen #rio

A photo posted by C4Paralympics (@c4paralympics) on Sep 15, 2016 at 3:03pm PDT

Sophie Christiansen, 29, Equestrian

Christiansen was born two months prematurely with cerebral palsy and suffered from other health problems including jaundice, blood poisoning, a heart attack and a collapsed lung. At the age of six she began horse riding as a form of physiotherapy and at 16 she became the youngest athlete for Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Paralympics.

The rider from Berkshire became a triple gold medalist in this year’s games, taking her total career haul to eight.

 

#KadeenaCox secures golden double in different sports with #T38 400m win Another gold. Another world record broken. But enough about Hannah Cockroft. Kadeena Cox’s place in the history books is written in permanent marker now. The 25-year-old from Leeds has swept through a staggering amount of work during her brief time in Rio. Two years since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Cox won her third Paralympic medal in the space of six days when she braved the searing Brazilian heat to cross the line in a thrilling T38 400m final in a time of 1min 0.71secs, becoming the first British Paralympian to top the podium in two different sports in the same Games since 1984. None of it has been straightforward for a woman who competed in able-bodied sport before suffering a stroke in 2014. Her condition can deplete her energy levels and many people thought that she should choose between athletics and cycling. But that is not Cox’s style. When she became the first British Paralympian to win two medals in two different sports since Isabel Newstead’s discus gold and shooting bronze in 1988, clinching the C4-5 with a world record ride on Saturday night, her world record ride in the Velodrome came 24 hours after her bronze in the T38 100m.

A photo posted by olimp.com (@olimpbookmaker) on Sep 15, 2016 at 3:45am PDT

Kadeena Cox, 25, Athlete/Cyclist 

Kadeena, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago, was picked to be GB’s flagbearer at the Rio closing ceremony after she become the first British star to win titles in two sports at the same Games since Seoul 1988.

She earned a gold in the T38 athletics 400m and triumphed in the C4-5 time trial. She also took athletics silver in the T35-38 4x100m relay and bronze in the T38 100m.

 

The award will be presented to the sportsman or woman with the most votes on  18 December. You can vote for your favourite by phone or online on the night during the live show from Birmingham or cast your vote now.