Sarah Storey has been nominated for British Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), but there is no room for Mark Cavendish.

The award is presented annually by the BBC to honor sporting successes of the year; in 2011, Cavendish won the road race world championships, and in 2012, Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France.

With only six candidates this year, Storey is the only cyclist to become Britain's most successful Paralympian.

The 44-year-old, who was born with a left hand disability, won three gold medals in Tokyo, bringing her tally to 17. competing in the C5 category, she won the individual track pursuit, followed by a double victory in the road race and time trial.

After tasting victory for the first time at the 2008 Beijing Games, she went on to win 12 medals in four Olympic Games. Prior to his cycling career, he won five gold medals as a swimmer in Barcelona and Atlanta in 1992 and 1996.

This is the third time Story has been nominated for SPOTY, following Olympic successes in 2012 and 2016. She will compete alongside diver Tom Daley, boxer Tyson Fury, soccer player Raheem Sterling, and swimmer Adam Peaty against 19-year-old US Open tennis champion Emma Raducanu.

"I am so honored to be named among such great athletes," Story wrote on social media. "Fortunately, Tyson Fury was born when I first entered the competition, but the others were not #doingitfortheover40s."

Cavendish was omitted from the shortlist despite his resurgence in 2021. Cavendish has been without a win for the past three years, and last year he struggled to find a team, but this year he won 10 Tour de France races, including four stages and the green jersey, tying Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34 stage victories.

"Good luck to all the nominees and congratulations on all the inspiring successes this year. A great year for British sport," Cavendish posted on social media.

Other possible nominees include Jason Kenny, who won one gold and one silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the most medals in British history. Katie Archibald also established herself as a leader in endurance track events with gold and silver medals.

In its 65-year history, five athletes have received the SPOTY award. The first winner was Tom Simpson in 1965 after winning the World Championships; the others are more recent: Chris Hoy in 2008, Cavendish in 2011, Wiggins in 2012, and Geraint Thomas in 2018.