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SPOTY nominees
The longlist is now a shortlist for tonight's 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
And the contenders are;
- Jude Bellingham - Football
- Keely Hodgkinson - Athletics
- Luke Littler - Darts
- Joe Root - Cricket
- Sarah Storey - Para-cycling
- Alex Yee - Triathlon
We'll go through each of the nominees and their credentials shortly.
Voting will take place during the show on BBC One and the award will be dished out later in the evening. Around 8.45pm I reckon.
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Arrivals
Yes the awards are back, and so is the red carpet to welcome tonight's athletes and their plus-ones who'll unfortunately be missing the darts over at Ally Pally.
The favourite to take home the trophy has arrived, Keely HodgkinsonCredit: PA 
Credit: GETTY Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill attends BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2024
Credit: GETTY As does Dan Pembroke
Credit: GETTY And Laura Kenny is also in the building
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Evening
Hello everybody, strap in for a night of razzle-dazzle and an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding sporting achievements of 2024.
For others, it means that EastEnders isn't on TV.
Small mercies.
Anyway, we'll be here over the next few hours to take you through all the thrills and spills from the 71st awards show in Salford.
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Arrivals
Credit: Getty 
Credit: PA 
Credit: PA 
Credit: PA -
Good evening and welcome to SunSport’s live blog of BBC Sports Personality of the Year!
Tonight’s huge event will take place at the home of BBC Sport in MediaCity, Salford.
Keely Hodgkinson is the hot favourite to take home the iconic award after dominating the 800m scene.
The Team GB star stormed to gold in the 800m at the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
The Atherton native also claimed the European title in Rome - two months before competing in France.
Hodgkinson broke the British national record and becoming the sixth fastest woman in history.
Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is also in the running for Sports Personality of the Year after finishing runner-up at the World Darts Championship in January catapulted him into stardom and one of the sport's leading competitors.
Since his stunning performance at Alexandra Palace, Littler has won ten PDC titles in his first year on the professional circuit.
The 17-year-old is looking to become the youngest winner of the prestigious accolade for more than 60 years.England and Real Madrid footballer Jude Bellingham is also amongst the star-studded names in contention to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.