The records and landmarks behind 70 years of BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year

More than three decades after Jones won the inaugural award, middle-distance runner Kirsty Wade became the first female BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist won the 800m and 1500m titles in Edinburgh in 1986, having already won the 800m title in Brisbane four years earlier.

Only six years after Wade’s triumph, in 1992, Tanni Grey-Thompson – then just Tanni Grey – became the second female to be crowned BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

In doing so, Grey-Thompson was the first Para-athlete to win the award having been recognised alongside able-bodied competitors.

Further triumphs in 2000 and 2004 mean wheelchair racer Grey-Thompson has won the title more times than any other female.

Cyclist Nicole Cooke became the third female winner in 2003 after becoming the youngest ever winner of the women’s World Cup.

It meant there were only three different female winners between 1954 and 2011, although as a result of Finucane’s latest triumph, six of the past 12 winners have been female.

Four athletes share the record of winning both the Welsh and the national BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in the same year.

Legendary golfer Dai Rees achieved the feat in 1957, with Joe Calzaghe (2007), Ryan Giggs (2009) and Geraint Thomas (2018) also doing the double in the same calendar year.