European Athletics (EAA) – News – Ennis awarded 2nd place in BBC Sports Personality of The Year

Jessica Ennis' year of recognition goes on after she finished second behind Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins in the BBC Sports Personality of The Year.

Ennis, the Olympic heptathlon gold medallist from London 2012, could not have been happier had she won the trophy, the most prestigious sporting award in Britain.

At a glitzy, slick show staged at the Excel Arena in East London, one of the venues for this summer's Olympics, Ennis, Mo Farah, the 5000m and 10,000m champion, and quadruple Paralympic gold medallist David Weir gave athletics a quarter of the 12 nominations.

In the telephone voting on the night, as Wiggins, who also won the Olympic Time Trial having been the first British man to win the Tour, received 492,000, Ennis had 372,000, Farah 131,000 and Weir 114,000.

Andy Murray, who ended a 76-year wait for a Briton to win a tennis grand slam with his victory in the US Open in September, was third with 230,000 votes.

But the smile on Ennis' face was just huge as she took to the stage to receive her second-place trophy in front of an audience of 16,000.

As she later wrote on Twitter: "What a brilliant night! A huge honour to have come second! A year I'll never forget! Thank you for all the support and votes!"

Ennis broke the British record when she won Olympic gold with a points total of 6955 on 'Super Saturday' at London 2012.

After she crossed the line in the 800m to confirm her triumph, the next 46 minutes saw Briton win two more golds – with Greg Rutherford in the long jump and Farah in the 10,000m.

The awards were presented by the Duchess of Cambridge.

As Ennis said: "I will come away from 2012 having achieved all I want to achieve and the most important thing for me was performing on those two days in London."

European Athletics (EAA) – News