Rachael Blackmore crowned BBC World Sport Star winner for 2021

In winning the gong, the Killenaule-born Irishwoman joins an elite list of previous winners including Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, Brian Lara and Michael Johnson.

Blackmore saw off competition from fellow nominees Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Tom Brady, Elaine Thompson-Herah and boxer Canelo Alvarez at the ceremony held at the MediaCityUK venue in Salford, Manchester, on Sunday evening.

Blackmore memorably became the first female jockey to win the Grand National at Aintree in April, having also been the first woman to win Cheltenham’s Champion Hurdle the previous month.

It was a Cheltenham Festival to remember for the 32-year-old rider, who ended the week as the top jockey with six wins, including Honeysuckle's superb triumph in the day-on feature.

Her other Festival victories this spring came aboard Bob Olinger, Sir Gerhard, Allaho, Telmesomethinggirl and Quilixios, while Minella Times - trained by her chief supporter Henry De Bromhead - was the horse who saw Blackmore enter the Grand National record books on April 10.

She ended the Irish 2020/21 National Hunt jockeys' championship in second place, just behind Paul Townend, with 92 domestic winners, on top of the eight winners she rode in Britain, to make it a perfect 100 for the campaign (April-April).

Blackmore had flown over from Ireland to attend the ceremony in person but was delayed at Manchester Airport.

She told Gabby Logan and Clare Balding in the studio: “I made it as far as Manchester Airport!”

Of her achievements in the saddle, Blackmore said: “I never even dreamt they could happen to be honest. It’s far surpassed anything I could have ever imagined. It’s just been an incredible year.

“The reaction has been brilliant, obviously for me personally they are such massive things to achieve but I think when you can bring a bit of joy to other people that makes it even more special.

“The reaction from everyone at home has been incredible and I feel very privileged to have had the year I’ve add.”

She added: “The Grand National was incredible, I felt I was exactly where I wanted to be (in the race). I visualised how I’d like things to work out and they seemed to just happen. You need a lot of things to fall into place for that to happen. It was just incredible.”

After being announced as the winner, she said: “The support has been incredible and I got such a kick out of being on that list of nominees.

“It’s kind of overwhelming. It’s unbelievable.”

Previous winners

• 1960 Herb Elliott - Athletics
• 1961 Valeriy Brumel - Athletics
• 1962 Donald Jackson - Figure skating
• 1963 Jacques Anquetil - Cycling
• 1964 Abebe Bikila - Athletics
• 1965 Ron Clarke Athletics, Gary Player - Golf
• 1966 Eusébio - Football, Garfield Sobers - Cricket
• 1967 George Moore - Horse racing
• 1968 Oleg Protopopov and Ludmila Belousova - Figure skating
• 1969 Rod Laver - Tennis
• 1970 Pelé - Football
• 1971 Lee Trevino - Golf
• 1972 Olga Korbut - Gymnastics
• 1973 Muhammad Ali - Boxing
• 1974 Muhammad Ali - Boxing
• 1975 Arthur Ashe - Tennis
• 1976 Nadia Comăneci - Gymnastics
• 1977 Niki Lauda - Formula One
• 1978 Muhammad Ali - Boxing
• 1979 Björn Borg - Tennis
• 1980 Jack Nicklaus - Golf
• 1981 Chris Evert - Tennis
• 1982 Jimmy Connors - Tennis
• 1983 Carl Lewis - Athletics
• 1984 Seve Ballesteros - Golf
• 1985 Boris Becker - Tennis
• 1986Greg Norman - Golf
• 1987 Martina Navratilova - Tennis
• 1988 Steffi Graf - Tennis
• 1989 Mike Tyson - Boxing
• 1990 Mal Meninga - Rugby league
• 1991 Mike Powell - Athletics
• 1992 Andre Agassi - Tennis
• 1993 Greg Norman - Golf
• 1994 Brian Lara - Cricket
• 1995 Jonah Lomu - Rugby union
• 1996 Evander Holyfield - Boxing, Michael Johnson - Athletics
• 1997 Deep BlueChess
• 1998 Mark O'Meara - Golf
• 1999 Maurice Greene - Athletics
• 2000 Tiger Woods - Golf
• 2001 Goran Ivanišević - Tennis
• 2002 Ronaldo - Football[39]
• 2003 Lance Armstrong - Cycling
• 2004 Roger Federer - Tennis
• 2005 Shane Warne - Cricket
• 2006 Roger Federer - Tennis
• 2007 Roger Federer - Tennis
• 2008 Usain Bolt - Athletics
• 2009 Usain Bolt - Athletics
• 2010 Rafael Nadal - Tennis
• 2011 Novak Djokovic - Tennis
• 2012 Usain Bolt - Athletics
• 2013 Sebastian Vettel - Formula One
• 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo - Football
• 2015 Dan Carter - Rugby union
• 2016 Simone Biles - Gymnastics
• 2017 Roger Federer - Tennis
• 2018 Francesco Molinari - Golf
• 2019 Eliud Kipchoge - Athletics
• 2020 Khabib Nurmagomedov - Mixed martial arts

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