England Women’s goalkeeper Mary Earps has been priced up by betting sites to be crowned the 2023 Sports Personality of the Year at Tuesday’s award ceremony in Salford.

The Manchester United and Lionesses' shot-stopper is a best-price of 1/8 with bet365 to collect the annual festive award after starring in the national team’s run to the Women’s World Cup final during the summer.

Earps is expected to become the second successive England Women’s star to be named Sports Personality of the Year after Beth Mead’s victory in 2022 and the third consecutive female athlete to win the honour after Emma Raducanu’s triumph in 2021.

Earps is up against five rivals at the 70th edition of SPOTY awards with cricketer Stuart Broad, jockey Frankie Dettori, wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewitt, athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson and golfer Rory McIlroy also nominated.

Sports Personality of the Year betting

• Mary Earps – 1/8
• Stuart Broad – 12/1
• Katarina Johnson-Thompson – 22/1
• Frankie Dettori – 40/1
• Alfie Hewitt – 66/1
• Rory McIlroy – 250/1

SPOTY award icing on the cake for Earps

Earps’ popularity exploded over the course of England’s run to the World Cup final in Australia, so much so that she forced Nike into a U-turn over their initial decision not to sell a replica Lionesses goalie top. 

The shirt made famous by Earps sold out in minutes off the back of an exemplary display by the 30-year-old as she collected the World Cup’s Golden Glove award. 

She kept three clean sheets at the tournament and saved a Jenni Hermoso penalty in England’s defeat to Spain in the final. 

In recognition of her efforts, more awards have followed for the Man Utd shot stopper, who was also named the Fifa Best Women’s Goalkeeper and England Women’s Player of the Year for last season, while she had previously picked up the WSL’s Golden Glove after keeping 14 clean sheets in the 2022/23 campaign.

Earps is now the odds-on favourite to make history by becoming the first goalkeeper of any gender to win Sports Personality of the Year and only the seventh footballer to collect the gong when the public voting opens on Tuesday night.

Broad best of the rest

Anyone looking for a more competitive betting heat relating to SPOTY on new bookmakers may be best served to check the without Mary Earps market, where Broad is the 4/7 favourite with bet365.

The England fast bowler enjoyed a fairytale finish to his career this summer during the drawn Ashes series against Australia.

Broad moved to 604 Test wickets during the series, leaving him second on England’s all-time list of wicket takers behind James Anderson, while he smashed a six off his final ball as a Test batsman.

Dettori unlikely to win this race

British sport also bid farewell, at least on these shores, to jockey Dettori this year as he finished his UK racing career in fine style. 

The 54-year-old won the 2000 Guineas and the Oaks, as well as claiming the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, and will undoubtedly receive plenty of support from the racing community when SPOTY voting commences.

He’s 10/3 to finish on the podium though in a competition where show jumpers (seven) have more top-three finishes than race jockeys (five). 

Johnson-Thompson is expected to beat Dettori to third after bouncing back from yet more injury issues to win her second heptathlon World Championship title in Budapest. 

The stars of track and field have more top-three SPOTY finishes than any other sport with 52 - Formula 1 drivers are next best with 18 - so history suggests Johnson-Thompson has a good chance of making the top three.

That trio look the most likely candidates to join Earps in the top three, according to betting apps, with Hewitt 4/1 for the top three after a year in which he won two Grand Slam titles.

McIlroy is the biggest outsider at 250/1 for the top prize. The Northern Irishman was runner-up to Lewis Hamilton at SPOTY 2014 but may struggle to emulate that finish, despite leading Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup and enjoying a strong season individually on both tours.