2nd December 2019

ARNOLD AND FORTUNE LEAD BBC WALES SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

World Para Athletics champions Hollie Arnold (coach: David Turner; club: Blackheath & Bromley) and Sabrina Fortune (Ian Robinson; Deeside) have been nominated for BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year and the public can vote for their winners between the 2nd and 8th December.

Arnold added her fourth consecutive world F46 javelin title to her collection, only the fourth athlete to do this after Hannah Cockroft, Richard Whitehead and Aled Davies.

In Dubai, Arnold faced Holly Robinson, the New Zealander who broke the Briton’s world record earlier this year. However, Arnold won the title, and did so in a personal best, adding 30cm to her previous best.

The Championship and European record-breaking throw of 44.73m came in the third round and she never looked back, holding onto her lead comfortably in the closing stages to clinch her fourth world title.

Arnold, the reigning Paralympic, world, European and Commonwealth champion, is one of the country’s most consistent athletes, and heads into 2020 with a second Paralympic title on her mind, as well as recapturing the world record.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – NOVEMBER 11: Hollie Arnold of Great Britain in action on her way to winning the Women’s Javelin Throw F46 on Day Five of the IPC World Para Athletics Championships 2019 Dubai on November 11, 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

For Sabrina Fortune, she broke through onto the world stage in 2018, winning European F20 shot put gold and throwing a world lead, however, in 2019, she exceeded that again, winning the world title in dramatic circumstances, and improving her lifetime best in the process.

The Deeside athlete sat in silver medal position following the Ukrainian, Anastasiia Mysnyk’s superb throw in the final round. However, the 22-year-old showed incredible composure to throw a mark of 13.91 metres with the last throw of the competition to earn the global title for the very first time.

Fortune was a bronze medallist at the Paralympic Games in Rio, and heads into 2020 as the world number one in the event for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

You can vote for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year, here:

The winner will be revealed during the Wales Sport Awards at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, on Tuesday, 10 December 2019 after a public vote.

You will be able to vote by telephone or online for the nominee of your choice. Voting will open at 07:30 GMT on Monday, 2 December and will close on 18:00 GMT on Sunday, 8 December.

Full details on how to vote will be available in English on www.bbc.co.uk/sportwales and in Welsh on www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw