Great Britain Cycling Team cyclists have been recognised for a year which saw them top the cycling medal table at both the Olympics and Paralympic Games with four nominations at the 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny, Kadeena Cox and Dame Sarah Storey have all made the 16-strong shortlist which is dominated by Olympians and Paralympians.
Jason Kenny, will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sir Chris Hoy who won the award in 2008 following his triple success at the Beijing Olympics.
Kenny matched that performance in Rio, winning gold in the team sprint, alongside Philip Hindes and Callum Skinner, individual sprint and the keirin, and joins Hoy as Great Britain’s most successful Olympian with six gold medals.
Kenny also won gold in the individual sprint at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in March.
He is joined on the shortlist by his wife Laura Kenny, who has enjoyed a year which has cemented her place as one of the greatest track cyclists of all time.
In Rio she won gold in the team pursuit, alongside Joanna Rowsell Shand, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald and added gold in the omnium, to match her achievements from London 2012 and in the process become Team GB’s most successful female Olympian.
She also won world titles in the scratch race and the omnium in London, making her a seven –time world champion.
Kadeena Cox has been nominated for an extraordinary 2016, which saw her become the first British athlete in 32 years to win medals in two different sports at a Paralympic Games.
Cox won a total of four medals in Rio, picking up a gold medal in the velodrome in the C4/5 500m time-trial, breaking the world record in the process.
She also won gold in the 400 metres on the athletics track, as well as silver in the 4x100 metres and bronze in the 100 metres.
Cox also became a world champion in cycling for the first time at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Italy, winning the C4 500m time-trial, as well as winning a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the IPC European Athletics Championships.
Dame Sarah Storey rounds off the cycling nominations. Storey won three gold medals at the Paralympics, making her Great Britain’s most successful female Paralympian, breaking the record she had previously shared with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.
Storey also picked up a trio of medals at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, winning gold in the individual pursuit and picking up silver medals in the scratch race and the 500 metre time trial.
Great Britain Cycling Team head coach, Iain Dyer, paid tribute to the nominees.
“Jason, Laura, Kadeena and Sarah have all enjoyed outstanding years, with their medal winning performances at the Olympics, Paralympics and world championships rightly seeing them nominated for this prestigious award," he said.
“The quality of the shortlist in an Olympic and Paralympic year is always high, but any one of them would be a deserving winner.”
Wow great representation from the cyclists! @DameSarahStorey @LauraKenny31 @JasonKenny107 @kad_c #SPOTY https://t.co/nPHJpuUXoQ
— Joanna Rowsell Shand (@JoRowsellShand) November 28, 2016
British cyclists have a proud recent history at the prestigious BBC event. Hoy won the award in 2008 after his exploits in Beijing, with Mark Cavendish picking up the trophy after winning the road race world title in Denmark in 2011. Sir Bradley Wiggins is the most recent recipient, winning in 2012 after his victories at the Tour de France and Olympic Games.
The winner will be announced in front of 12,000 people on Sunday 18 December at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. The public will be able to vote by phone and online with voting details announced during the live show.
