In just a few days’ time, one of an elite group of six athletes will walk away with one of the most coveted prizes in British sport: the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.
It’s funny to think that, for all of the medals, trophies, titles and paycheques, a random TV award still assumes such prominence in sport professionals’ minds. It speaks volumes about British reverence for the BBC, for sure, but ultimately the accolade matters so much because it’s decided by the public. It’s our way of telling our sporting heroes just how much they have entertained, inspired, motivated and delighted us.
This year’s shortlist is one of the strongest ever: from Lewis Hamilton, who this year won yet another Formula 1 world championship, putting him just one short of the all-time record, to Ben Stokes, who propelled the England One Day cricket team to World Cup victory before playing the innings of a lifetime to rescue the Test side in The Ashes just one month later.
We’d also like to give a special shout-out to the two women on the shortlist – sprinter Dina Asher-Smith and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson. They may not be the bookies’ favourites to win the award, but both athletes have enjoyed unforgettable years that are well worth reflecting upon.
In 2019 Asher-Smith claimed world 200m gold, the first British woman to win a major global sprint title, setting a national record time in the process. Johnson-Thompson, who first graced the nation’s screens competing alongside Jessica Ennis-Hill in the London 2012 Olympics, won the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championship in October, breaking Ennis-Hill’s record points tally in the process.
We take a particular interest in female athletes because many still face a tough journey, compared to their male counterparts, when it comes to securing professional contracts, sponsorships and making a living from their incredible talent. All of which impacts their ability to secure affordable motor insurance.
Despite bringing joy to millions of people, these athletes find themselves shunned by mainstream insurance providers. With a public profile, income that is hard to predict, high levels of mandatory travel, and the threat of career-ending injury lurking in the background, their profession is automatically classified as ‘high risk’, and most motor insurers simply won’t go near them.
Of course, profiling these athletes in this way is neither fair nor accurate. This is why we’ve made it our business to better support brokers who handle female athletes, assigning a dedicated team of experts to manually underwrite each athletes’ risk based on their individual profile – from the nature of their role and profile, through to how their vehicle is used and stored.
During the three years since our Sports & Entertainment product was launched, we’ve grown the number of female athletes on our books by 200% per year. In fact, we’ve recently expanded our team to give brokers even more support at every stage from marketing to claims, as well as reducing the turnaround time for new quotes to just 2-4 hours, allowing these sporting clients to get back to their training as quickly as possible.
So, as we eagerly await the BBC awards extravaganza on Sunday December 15th, we’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate every amazing sports professional on the shortlist, and take our hats off to female sporting heroes everywhere in the UK for their commitment, perseverance and continued achievement. The female sports world is going from strength to strength right now, and we’ve made it our mission to support its rising stars in every way we can.
