Coe criticizes 'SPOTY' for excluding Scottish runner Josh Kerr

Scottish middle-distance runner Josh Kerr has had a fairly successful season in his athletic career this year, so when it was announced on December 12 that he had not been shortlisted for BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year, it elicited an uproar on social media.

Probably the most notable figure who questioned the BBC for excluding Josh Kerr is the World Athletics President himself, Sebastian Coe, who took to his X to criticize the organizers, writing, “No Josh Kerr on the list, are you having a laugh #SPOTY ? 🤔 World Champion in the biggest global sporting event of 2023.”

No Josh Kerr on the list, are you having a laugh #SPOTY ? 🤔

World Champion in the biggest global sporting event of 2023. pic.twitter.com/9c1N9kkw3T

— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) December 12, 2023

Back in August, Josh Kerr had clinched the gold medal in the 1500-meter event at the World Athletics Championships after stunning his most decorated rival, Olympic-gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen. He finished the race with a record of 3:29.38 minutes, just 0.27 seconds faster than Ingebrigtsen. Still, milliseconds counted greatly during races, and Kerr was thrown into a state of euphoria after bringing home the glory to Great Britain.

Kerr and other hurdler

Kerr even described his victory as an ‘overwhelming experience’, and rightly so, since battling against the best runners from different countries is such a hard thing to accomplish. Kerr and 400-meter hurdler Femke Bol were the only athletes in the event to have also snagged a gold medal for the country.

As a bonus, Kerr also bagged silver at the Zurich Diamond League , clocking 3:30.51 just a few days after being the World Champion.

Nevertheless, as shown, his efforts still fell short of what was required to make the BBC Sports Personality of the Year elite shortlist.

Fans’ reactions to Coe calling out SPOTY

Under Coe’s post, many X users echoed the President’s sentiments, wondering why a world champion wasn’t included in SPOTY’s shortlist.

One X user stated that they needed to rethink how the nominations are made since Kerr’s performance against the odds was amazing. The user also shared that while he used to be keen on SPOTY, now he doesn’t bother watching it anymore.

I agree. They need to rethink how the nominations are made. Josh Kerr’s performance/ achievement against the odds was amazing. I used to be as keen on SPOTY as I was getting up to watch the FA Cup coverage build up as a kid. Now I don’t even bother.

— Rich MacNee (@richardmacnee) December 13, 2023

Another person suggested that the BBC should have started with a longer list and worked its way down to just six by the time of the live show. She then added that Kerr gave her the top sporting moment of the year.

They should have started with a larger list (say 12) and whittled it down to six in time for the live show imo. Josh gave me my top sporting moment of the year.

— juliette (@jforjuliette) December 12, 2023