Two equestrians are among the eight sports women to make the shortlist for the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year award 2019.
The prize, which is in its seventh year, celebrates stand-out performances from Britain’s female athletes and is decided by public vote.
This year, eventer Pippa Funnell MBE and jockey Bryony Frost have been nominated alongside competitors from the worlds of football, athletics, taekwondo, para-cycling and motorsport.
Fifty-year-old Pippa was put forward for the prize after her “return to winning ways” at this year’s Burghley, 14 years after her last four-star (now five-star) victory; while Bryony was nominated after becoming the first female jockey to win a Grade One race over fences at Cheltenham.
Bryony Frost with the Ryanair Chase trophy after she rode Frodon to victory in the Grade One at Cheltenham.
Other nominees include last year’s recipient sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, who broke British records this year while claiming a gold and two silvers in the world championships at 100m and 200m.
Voting is now open at btsport.com/actionwoman2019 and closes at 11.59pm on 1 December.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges including Clare Balding OBE, Rachel Brown-Finnis, Caroline Barker, Tammy Parlour MBE (co-founder of the Women’s Sport Trust), Jude Kelly CBE (director of the WOW Foundation), and Adam Sills (head of sport at The Telegraph).
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Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “It has been an incredible, record-breaking year for women’s sport, both for individuals and teams. From football and horse racing, to motorsport and martial arts, we are proud to celebrate the achievements of our nominees and hope that their performances will inspire the next generation of athletes.
“We would encourage everyone to continue to show their appreciation and admiration by voting for their favourite sportswoman of 2019.”
The awards, hosted by Clare Balding, will be shown across multiple platforms, including BT Sport 1, on the BT Sport app, BTsport.com and on Twitter on Monday, 9 December from 7.30pm.
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