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.
A remarkable year for Mead
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.
