Fans claim 1,500m world champion Josh Kerr has been ‘robbed’ after being snubbed from the BBC Sports Personality of The Year shortlist… despite his stunning win in Budapest

Fans have slammed the decision to omit Josh Kerr from the BBC Sports Personality of The Year shortlist, despite his stellar run to claim gold in the 1,500 meters at this year's World Athletics Championships.

The BBC have unveiled their six-person shortlist for the annual award, with England goalkeeper Mary Earps the odds-on favorite after the Lionesses reached the final of the Women's World Cup.

Ashes hero Stuart Broad, veteran jockey Frankie Dettori, Europe's Ryder Cup talisman Rory McIlroy and wheelchair tennis number 1 Alfie Hewett have also been nominated.

The shortlist is completed by world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, but the omission of fellow athlete Kerr is being questioned.

Kerr produced one of the standout moments of the World Athletics Championships in August.

The Scottish runner withstood the challenge of Norwegian middle distance star Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win gold in Budapest.

Kerr, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, had emulated compatriot Jake Wightman who had won the world title at the same event 12 months earlier.

The decision to leave Kerr off the shortlist has been questioned, with some fans noting that Wightman was among those nominated for the same performance last year.

'I know, I know, it's bullshit. But who upset Josh Kerr when he was left out in favor of people who failed to win when it mattered most?” read one tweet.

'Josh Kerry has robbed, there are plenty here who haven't won anything this year, let alone a world title! At least KJT is here,” another added.

“So Josh Kerr wins the 1500m gold at the World Athletics Championships – beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen into the bargain – and he's not nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year,” wrote a third.

Snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan, who won a record-breaking eighth British Championship title earlier this month, and England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham are among the other notable omissions from the shortlist.

The athlete who tops the public vote on December 19 will become SPOTY's 70th winner.

If it is Earps, it would be the third year in a row that a woman has won, following Emma Raducanu in 2021 and then Mead, after fifteen years of male dominance before that.

Earps won the World Cup Golden Glove after keeping three clean sheets for England on their way to a historic first final. She also saved a penalty in the Lionesses' heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Spain in Sydney.

Of the other candidates, Broad was England's best bowler in this summer's astonishing Ashes clash, taking the final wicket of the fifth Test against Australia to level the series at 2-2 after retiring during that match announced.

Johnson-Thompson claimed her second world heptathlon title in Budapest in August, recovering from the injuries that devastated her career after her first global gold in 2019.

Dettori, aged 52, scored a host of major victories in his final year of racing in Britain, including wins in two classics: the 2000 Guineas and the Oaks.

McIlroy was the top scorer as Europe defeated the US in the Ryder Cup in Rome, earning four out of a possible five points after claiming just one in a record defeat two years ago.

Meanwhile, Hewett won five Grand Slam titles in wheelchair tennis this year (two singles and three doubles), finishing as world number one. He could become the first Para sports star to be named SPOTY in the show's 70-year history.

An industry panel was asked to select a shortlist that 'reflects British sporting performance, represents the breadth and depth of British sport and takes into account the impact of the individual's sporting achievements outside the sport in question'.

According to the BBC's criteria for the award, the winner should be 'the athlete whose sporting actions have most captured the imagination of the British public in 2023'.