The world 1500m champion is on the short list of contenders for the prestigious annual awards ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday. Wightman flies the flag for athletics, with Eilish McColgan missing out despite a stellar year of her own, but the odds-on favourite is England footballer Beth Mead after winning the Golden Boot and player of the tournament awards as the Lionesses won Euro 2022. She is joined on the shortlist by Wightman, England cricket captain Ben Stokes, snooker star Ronnie O'Sullivan, gymnast Jessica Gadirova and curler Eve Muirhead.
Wightman is in with a chance of a podium place at least after a brilliant year. He became the first British man to win the world 1,500m title since Steve Cram in 1983 by beating Norwegian favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to take a remarkable gold in Eugene. It was made all the more special by father Geoff commentating on the final as the stadium announcer.
“It’s that moment you cross the line, it’s just such euphoria, I just wish you could bottle that up because it soon fades away a little bit,” Wightman told BBC Sport. “The disbelief and the shock are something that I will never have again.”
The 28-year-old former Stewart's Melville and Fettes College pupil also won 800m silver at the European Championships and 1500m bronze at the Commonwealth Games.
Other awards to be announced include Young Sports Personality of the Year, Team and Coach of the Year, Unsung Hero and the Helen Rollason Award. Usain Bolt will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award, while football World Cup winner Lionel Messi is the World Sport Star of the Year.
When is BBC SPOTY 2022?
The programme is set to take place tomorrow evening, Wednesday 21 December, with a start time of 6.45pm GMT, live from Salford.
The awards will be available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer and will see Gabby Logan and Gary Lineker return to their presenting roles along with Clare Balding and Alex Scott.
Viewers can vote by phone or online on the night for the main award, with full details announced during the show. The winner will be announced during the live show on BBC One on Wednesday.
What is the prize for BBC SPOTY?
The winner will take home the highly coveted trophy, an iconic prize which is a silver four-turret lents camera. It was first created in the 1950s for the inaugural winner of the event, Christopher Chataway.
The programme was first created by Paul Fox in 1954 while he was editor of the sports magazine show SportsView.
Approximately 14,500 votes were cast and Chataway beat fellow athlete Roger Bannister to win the first BBC Sportsview’s Personality of the Year Award.
There is no prize money awarded for the winner of the trophy. Each new winner has their name engraved on individual shields attached to a plinth underneath the camera on the trophy and the original trophy is still used for the ceremony.
Who was on the judging panel?
The industry panel for this year included former Olympian Denise Lewis and Paralympian Kelly Gallagher as well as ex-snooker player Stephen Hendry.
Sports journalists Nancy Gillen (GiveMeSport), Jack Fox (Metro) and Tumaini Carayol (The Guardian) were also on the 2022 panel, in addition to Sue Butler (head of sports, S4C) and Sally Munday (CEO, UK Sport).
Representing the BBC were director of sport Barbara Slater, head of TV sport Philip Bernie and Sports Personality of the Year executive producer Gabby Cook.
The 2022 shortlist ...
5. Ronnie O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan claimed his seventh World Championship title to equal Stephen Hendry's record in the modern era. Aged 46, he became the oldest world champion in Crucible history, eclipsing Ray Reardon, who won his sixth title aged 45 in 1978. 'The Rocket' cemented his position as one of snooker's all-time greats with an 18-13 final win against Judd Trump. It was a 39th ranking title for the English player, who holds almost every major record in the game and also won the Champion of Champions and Hong Kong Masters in 2022. O'Sullivan, who has on occasion been outspoken about snooker and his fellow players, told BBC Sport: "The love/hate doesn't come from hating the game, I've always loved the game, just my frustrations would spill over and it would look like I had fallen out of love with the game. But it was only because I wasn't playing the game to the standard that I wanted to play." Photo: Zac Goodwin
6. Jessica Gadirova
A rising star of British gymnastics, the 18-year-old claimed floor gold on the final day of the world championships. It was the English gymnast's third medal at the event in Liverpool after winning silver in the team event and a historic bronze in the all-around competition. That was Britain's first world all-around medal and Gadirova became only the fifth British gymnast to be individual world champion. Gadirova, who took floor gold and team silver at the European Championships, is also on the Young Sports Personality shortlist along with skateboarder Sky Brown and diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. "I'm just so shocked to be in that shortlist with such incredible athletes and to be recognised for my hard work and achievements - it's incredible," she told BBC Sport. Photo: Laurence Griffiths