The teenage darts sensation Luke Littler has joined stars of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist – but there is no place for Tour de France record-holder Sir Mark Cavendish.

No darts player has ever won the coveted award, but Littler is rated second-favourite behind Olympic 800 metres champion Keely Hodgkinson on a shortlist that includes Sarah Storey, the 19-time Paralympic champion who continued an incomparable medal streak this year dating back to 1992.

Triathlon Olympic champion Alex Yee, England cricket-run machine Joe Root and footballer Jude Bellingham complete a six-person shortlist that will be controversial for the omission of Cavendish.

The 39-year-old won the award in 2011 but a remarkable career that has also included the world cycling road race title reached a fairy-tale finale this summer with a 35th Tour de France stage win to surpass the Belgian legend Eddy Merckx. Cavendish retired last month after sealing the 165th win in a 19-year career that ensured he is widely acknowledged as his sport’s greatest road sprinter.

The sport of cycling, however, is represented on the Sports Personality shortlist by the 47-year-old Storey who, after winning 16 Paralympic medals in swimming from 1992 until 2004, transitioned to cycling and has now won a further 14 gold medals across five Paralympic Games since Beijing in 2008.

Hodgkinson favourite to be fourth consecutive female winner

The bookmakers have installed Hodgkinson as the favourite for the Sports Personality award after she produced arguably Team GB’s moment of the Paris Olympics by following up her silver medal as a teenager in Tokyo to join Ann Packer and Dame Kelly Holmes with 800m gold.

Littler, who is the second favourite, is also shortlisted for the young personality award following a sensational debut season in professional darts in which he brought the nation to a virtual standstill last January when reaching the PDC world final, aged only 16, before earning more than £1 million in prize money.

Yee was a dramatic winner of the Olympic triathlon title, overcoming a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the final run before later adding the world title.

Bellingham was part of the England team who reached the Euro 2024 final following a superb debut season at Real Madrid that included 23 goals from midfield and both a Champions League and La Liga title.

Root set numerous records in amassing the most Test match runs in 2024, most notably overhauling Sir Alastair Cook as England’s most prolific Test batsman.

Hodgkinson and Storey will be hoping to make it a fourth female Sports Personality winner in a row following the successes of tennis player Emma Raducanu and footballers Beth Mead and Mary Earps.

The BBC’s annual celebration of the sporting year, which was first held in 1954, will be held on Tuesday, December 17 and presented by a first all-female team of Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott.

This year’s judging panel includes Dame Laura Kenny, Iwan Thomas, Ade Adepitan, Nedum Onuoha, Rory Best and Eilidh Barbour as well as various sports journalists. Votes can be cast by phone or online during the show.

“It’s a fantastic shortlist,” said Alex Kay-Jelski, the director of BBC Sport: “All six of them have kept us on the edge of our seats this year, showing us how sensational they are. I’m looking forward to reliving each of their successes on the night and finding out who audiences want to be crowned BBC Sport Personality of the Year 2024.”

Other awards that will be presented next week include the world sport star of the year, the Helen Rollason award for courage in the face of adversity, the unsung hero, the coach of the year, team of the year and the lifetime achievement award.