Grand National-winning jockey Rachael Blackmore and women’s Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah are both nominated for the BBC’s World Sport Star of the Year award.
The two female athletes feature on a six-person shortlist that also contains world number one tennis star Novak Djokovic, Super Bowl winning quarter-back Tom Brady, boxer Canelo Alvarez, and F1 driver Max Verstappen.
Elaine Thompson-Herah
Thompson-Herah is considered one of the greatest female sprinters of all time and is a five-time Olympic champion.
Three of these gold medals came at Tokyo 2020, where the Jamaican became the first woman to complete the Olympic sprint ‘double-double.’
The 29-year-old is also currently the fastest woman on earth, having run the 100m in 10.54 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.
Rachael Blackmore
Meanwhile, Irish jockey Blackmore became the first female rider to win the Grand National when she rode to victory on Minella Times back in April.
Earlier this year, she also achieved notable ‘firsts’ at the Cheltenham Festival, becoming the first woman to win the Ruby Walsh Trophy for Champion Jockey and to partner a winner of the Champion Hurdle.
Though both Blackmore and Thompson-Herah have enjoyed outstanding years, they are up against some steep competition.
Novak Djokovic
Djokovic drew level with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on 20 major wins and came agonisingly close to becoming the first man in more than 50 years to win the ‘Golden Slam’, which involves winning all four majors in the same year.
The Serbian won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon but lost in the US Open final to Daniil Medvedev.
Tom Brady
American football legend Brady extended his record for Super Bowl wins to seven as he helped his new side, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, beat pre-season favourites the Kansas City Chiefs back in February.
In October, the 44-year-old also became the NFL’s leading passer when the Bucs beat his former side the New England Patriots.
Canelo Alvarez
Mexico’s Alvarez is considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world and became the first undisputed super-middleweight champion ever when he beat Caleb Plant in November.
With 57 career wins to his name, Alvarez’s only defeat came to Floyd Mayweather back in 2013.
Max Verstappen
F1 star Verstappen is still chasing his own personal glory this season, with the Drivers World Championship title going down to the final race of the season.
The Dutchman has won nine Grands Prix this year, including at his home track in September, but he enters the final race level on points with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
At this weekend’s final race in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen needs to score the same amount or more points than Hamilton to clinch the title.
Voting for the award will stay open until 13:00 GMT on Tuesday, December 14th and the award will be presented during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show on Sunday, December 19th.