Jockey named as one of three finalists for BBC young sports personality award
Apprentice jockey Tom Marquand has been named as one of the three finalists for BBC young sports personality of the year.
A shortlist of 10 young athletes was announced last month, and today (Thursday, 10 December) Tom, gymnast Ellie Downie and para swimmer Tully Kearney were revealed as the three finalists on Blue Peter.
Tom picked up the champion apprentice title after riding 54 winners in his first season.
The 17-year-old from Cheltenham was 26th in the Stobart Flat Jockeys Championship, with just five fewer wins than Frankie Dettori in 2015.
The shortlist was selected by a panel, from nominations made to the BBC and by sports governing bodies via the Youth Sport Trust and in partnership with Blue Peter.
Previous winners of the award include Andy Murray, Ellie Simmonds, Wayne Rooney, Tom Daley and Amber Hill.
“It is really inspiring to see such great talent coming through in the world of sport,” said Will Roberts, from the Youth Sport Trust.
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“We had a difficult time narrowing the list down from ten to three as all of these young sports men and women have a dazzling future ahead of them and have shone brightly in 2015.
“We wish them all the best of luck for the night.”
Sixteen-year-old gymnast Ellie Downie made history when she became the first British female to win an individual all-around medal for Great Britain at the European Championships with a bronze this year.
Para-swimmer Tully Kearney won six medals at the IPC World Swimming Championships in Glasgow. She also set a new European record in the 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
In 2010 AP McCoy became the first jockey to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award — the year in which he won the Grand National on his 15th attempt aboard Don’t Push It.
AP is one of just four equestrians to have won the award — David Broome in 1960, Princess Anne in 1971 and Zara Phillips in 2006.
The overall young sports personality of the year winner, selected by the panel, will be presented with their award at this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday 20 December).
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.