Sir Mo Farah Wins Sports Personality of the Year at St Mary’s

Alumnus of St Mary’s University, Twickenham Sir Mo Farah celebrated winning the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award from a live feed hosted at the University.

Sir Mo, who this year was knighted, won a Gold and Silver Medal in the London 2017 World Championships, and returned to St Mary’s as the athletics track was named in his honour, won the title in a public vote, featuring 11 other leading British athletes.

He was joined at St Mary’s by fellow nominee and tennis star Johanna Konta who reached the semi-final of Wimbledon earlier in 2017. Sir Mo received over 83,000 votes to win, with Jonathan Rea in second and Jonnie Peacock in third.

Despite some technical issues with the BBC’s satellite truck, Sir Mo was able to share his delight at winning the award when the video link came back up, telling the stadium, “It is pretty amazing and hard to think about...I didn't imagine I was ever going to win this but anything can happen. If you work hard you can achieve your dreams.”

St Mary’s Director of Sport Andrew Reid-Smith said, “I am delighted for Mo, it’s a fantastic recognition of everything he has achieved so far, and we’re looking forward to his new road running career.”