Emma Raducanu becomes the FAVOURITE with the bookies to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year after her epic US Open triumph as she moves ahead of Olympic heroes Tom Daley and Adam Peaty in the running
- Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam
- Her win means she is also the first British woman for 44 years to win a major
- Raducanu’s Sports Personality of the Year odds have been slashed to 1/12
- This puts her comfortably ahead of Tom Daley (9/2) and Adam Peaty (12/1)
- If she won SPOTY, Raducanu would become the first female winner in 15 years
- Her Betfair odds to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon have also been cut
Emma Raducanu has become the bookies’ favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year, catapulting her above Tom Daley and Adam Peaty in the process.
The 18-year-old became the first qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam as she swept all before her at Flushing Meadows, beating Leylah Fernandez in Saturday’s final to cap the most incredible of underdog stories.
Now Betfair has revealed that the teenager, who became the first British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977 to win a major title, has now overtaken the two 2020 Olympic gold-medal winners along with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Emma Raducanu stunned the world of sport with her run to become US Open champion
The 18-year-old is now the favourite with Betfair to become Sports Personality of the Year
She has moved above Tom Daley idespite the Olympian winning a gold and a bronze in Tokyo
Raducanu’s odds now stand at 1/12 having been at 20/1 this time last week and, barring something truly extraordinary, she will succeed Hamilton in lifting the trophy and become the first woman to do so in 15 years since Zara Tindall in 2006. Daley sits at 9/2, while Peaty and Hamilton are on 12/1.
Daley finally tasted Olympic glory in Tokyo in the 10m sychronised platform competition alongside Matty Lee after the child prodigy won bronze alongside Daniel Goodfellow in the same discipline five years previously in Rio de Janeiro.
The 27-year-old then secured bronze in the 10m individual event, repeating his dramatic feat from London 2012.
Peaty went into this summer’s Games as the undisputed king of 100m breaststroke and wasn’t ready to relinquish his seven-year unbeaten run, obliterating the field to defend the title he won in 2016 before winning a second gold in Japan as part of Team GB’s 4x100m mixed medley relay.
After those two golds, Peaty secured silver in the men’s 4x100m medley relay, matching GB’s 2016 performance as the Uttoxeter-born star again excelled, swimming 1.96 seconds faster than American Michael Andrew to put Great Britain in front before the Caeleb Dressel and Zach Apple turned on the afterburners to win it for the US.
Raducanu has also overtaken Adam Peaty after the swimmer’s two golds and a silver in Japan
The teenager’s odds of winning next year’s Australia Open and Wimbledon have also been cut
After Raducanu’s stunning triumph, her odds to win subsequent Grand Slam events have also shortened significantly.
The woman raised in Bromley is now 14-1 to win her next major, the Australian Open, in January and just 10-1 to improve on her fourth-round showing in July to reach next summer’s Wimbledon final.