England women's hero Beth Mead has been nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award; the Lionesses forward was the best player in this year's European Championships which England won; Mead was named alongside England men's Test captain Ben Stokes and five others
Tuesday 20 December 2022 15:39, UK
Lionesses hero Beth Mead is one of six nominees for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
Arsenal and England forward Mead was the standout player at this year's European Championships, which Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses won, as she was named Player of the Tournament for her six goals and five assists.
Those six goals meant she finished the tournament as its top scorer, while she has also scored three goals and four assists in seven Women's Super League matches in the 2022/23 season so far - to go with the 11 strikes and eight assists last term.
Mead has been named alongside England men's Test captain Ben Stokes and snooker world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the BBC shortlist.
Teenage gymnast Jessica Gadirova, athletics champion Jake Wightman and curler Eve Muirhead are the other contenders for the individual prize. The winner will be announced on Wednesday evening.
The BBC nomination ends a remarkable year for Mead, the pinnacle of which was winning the European Championships with the Lionesses.
England sealed the European Championships trophy by beating Germany in the Wembley final in front of 90,000 fans - a record attendance for a game in the competition.
Mead scored in all three of the Lionesses' group games - including a hat-trick in the 8-0 win against Norway - while she also netted the opener in England's semi-final win over Sweden.
The 27-year-old was also part of the Lionesses squad that sealed qualification to next year's Women's World Cup.
Her performances for England and Arsenal, who finished second in the Women's Super League last season after being pipped to the title by Chelsea on the final day, earned her second place in the Women's Ballon D'Or, won by Spain and Barcelona star Alexia Putellas.
However, Mead picked up an ACL injury in Arsenal's WSL defeat to Manchester United last month, which puts her World Cup participation in serious doubt. The news was quickly followed by a new contract at Arsenal.
England cricketer Stokes has endured a whirlwind year, his first as captain of the men's Test team.
The 31-year-old has led his side to nine wins in 10 England Tests against New Zealand, India, South Africa and Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Stokes sealed a 3-0 series win in Pakistan - making England the first-ever country to compete a clean sweep in the South Asian nation.
Stokes also played a starring role in England's T20 World Cup win over Pakistan, finishing on 52 not out in the Melbourne final.
Snooker star O'Sullivan won his seventh World Championship this year to level Stephen Hendry's record in the open era, while Muirhead led Great Britain to curling gold in the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Eighteen-year-old Gadirova claimed floor gold in the final day of the Gymnastics World Championships last month, with Wightman securing 1500m gold in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
