The original short-list of 10 contenders has been whittled down to the final trio by a panel of judges including John Inverdale, Jake Humphrey and Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton.

The winner will be announced live at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show at Birmingham's LG Arena on Sunday, December 19.

Daley is bidding for a hat-trick, having won the title last year and in 2007.

This year the 16-year-old Devon diver became the second youngest double Commonwealth Champion ever in Delhi, winning the 10 metre individual competition and 10m synchro.

Daley also defeated Olympic champion Matt Mitcham in a closely fought individual contest, producing a set of perfect 10s from the judges in the third round.



Weightlifter Smith's bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games landed her in the record books as the youngest ever Commonwealth weightlifting medallist as well as England's first ever female Commonwealth weightlifting medallist.

Sixteen-year-old Smith set a new 58kg British under-23 snatch record of 85kg, her 317th British record in total across three bodyweight categories since 2007.

Seventeen-year-old sprinter Williams narrowly missed out on the BBC award to Daley in 2009.

Unbeaten in the whole of her 100m sprinting career, Williams won gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada.

She continued her good form, setting a new European 200m youth record of 22.79sec - the second fastest time ever for an under-17 girl - as well as setting a British under-20 110m record of 11.24.

The original ten short-listed for the award also included Conor Coady, Jade Jones, Dan Lucker, Sam Oldham, Liam Pitchford, Laura Robson and Emma Saunders.