BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Anthony Joshua, Lewis Hamilton and Harry Kane lead 12-strong shortlist for 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT champion Anthony Joshua heads the  12-strong shortlist for this year's 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

And the 28-year-old former Olympic champion, currently ranked the world's top heavyweight, is already the odds-on favourite to win after his victory over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley in April earned him the WBA and IBO belts to add to his existing IBF title.

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Last month .

However, he faces competition from 2014 award winner , who won a fourth Formula One drivers' title last month, and who clinched the world 10,000 metres title in London this summer but narrowly missed out on the 5,000m double in his final track season.

Farah has never been in the top three of SPOTY since winning his first global title in 2011 despite becoming one of the world's greatest distance athletes and told SunSport after achieving double-double Olympic golds in Rio last year that he thought he would never win the award.

He will be bidding to change that with , who won his fourth Tour de France in the summer, also among the challengers.

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Tottenham striker , the Premier League's top scorer in 2016-17 for the second season in a row and England's leading scorer in their successful World Cup qualifying campaign, as the only footballer on the shortliist.

Short-track speed-skater Elise Christie  - one of six Winter Olympians SunSport is following to South Korea in 2018, has has been recognised after becoming the first European woman to win the 1,000m, 1500m and overall gold at the World Championships in Rotterdam in March.

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British women's tennis number one Johanna Konta is also among the nominees having reached her best singles world ranking of four in the summer after the biggest win of her career at the Miami Open, where she beat Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki in the semi and final, and then reached the last four at Wimbledon.

Northern Ireland's Jonathan Rea, who secured a third successive World Superbikes title, is nominated as is Paralympian Jonnie Peacock after he secured gold at the IPC World Athletics Championships in the T44 100m.

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Swimmer Adam Peaty's record-breaking achievements at the World Aquatics Championships have been recognised after the 22-year-old Olympic champion retained his 100m and 50m breaststroke titles, breaking his own world record twice in the shorter event and becoming the first man to swim the distance in under 26 seconds.

England women's cricketer Anya Shrubsole makes the list for her performance as they won the World Cup on home soil.

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And Bianca Walkden, who successfully defended her world taekwondo heavyweight title in South Korea, completes the line-up.

The winner will be decided by public vote, with the live show taking place in Liverpool on December 17.

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2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award contenders

Elise Christie (Speed skating)

Mo Farah (Athletics)

Chris Froome (Cycling)

Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1)

Anthony Joshua (Boxing)

Harry Kane (Football)

Johanna Konta (Tennis)

Jonnie Peacock (Para-athletics)

Adam Peaty (Swimming)

Jonathan Rea (Motorcycling)

Anya Shrubsole (Cricket)

Bianca Walkden (Taekwondo)