Tyson Fury's shock win sees longest ever shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision to win the world heavyweight titles

TYSON FURY'S shock win against Wladimir Klitschko in Saturday night's world heavyweight battle has resulted in the longest ever shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

 

Twelve names will be put to a public vote rather than the usual 10 - but even with the extended candidate list, a few highly popular names have been left off.

Jamie Vardy's ongoing achievement of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games has not been recognised by the panel of six men and six women who met in the middle of November, despite being listed as fifth favourite by William Hill before the shortlist was announced.

 

Indeed, there will not be a single male football player on the list, with another 20-1 shot, Wayne Rooney, overlooked in the year he broke Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 49 international goals for England.

It has also emerged that Andy Murray's exploits at last weekend's Davis Cup were the only thing that meant he made it even into the reckoning.

 

The panel had reserved the right to add Murray and Fury if they were successful in their endeavours last weekend.

However, it highlighted the fact that despite seeing off France, America and Australia in the earlier rounds, and reaching his highest ever year-end ranking of No2 in the world, Murray's place in the top 10 was dependent on him leading Britain to success against Belgium.

The actual winners will be decided by public vote on the night of the Sports Personality of the Year show in Belfast on December 20.