Two of Great Britain's top athletes will be in the running on Sunday for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award.
Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson have enjoyed fantastic years in 2019, both earning their maiden world titles in Doha in October.
And in Aberdeen they will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Geraint Thomas in winning the award, although the pair face stiff competition from cricketer Ben Stokes, rugby player Alun Wyn Jones, Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton and footballer Raheem Sterling.
So with a couple of days before the big decision, it is seems the perfect time to reflect on a brilliant season for the pair.
DINA’S DREAM
While her potential has been clear to see for a while now, Dina Asher-Smith truly announced herself on the world stage in 2018 with triple gold at the European Championships, to go with a Commonwealth relay gold in the appropriately named Gold Coast.
Topping that this year was going to require something quite spectacular, but that is exactly what Asher-Smith did, with a couple of early Diamond League victories over 200m before taking the Diamond League final victory in the 100m in Brussels.
That underlined her status as one of the top sprinters in the world heading to the World Championships in Doha.
There she picked up silver behind all-time great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m, becoming the first female British sprinter to win an individual medal at the worlds since Kathy Cook in 1983.
She then went one better in the 200m as she smashed the British record on her way to gold, running 21.88 to beat the USA’s Brittany Brown by more than three tenths.
Asher-Smith was not done there, adding a relay silver in the 4x100m to complete a remarkable competition for her and put her in great shape ahead of Tokyo in 2020.
KJT STEPS UP
Asher-Smith was not the only gold medallist in Doha, but while her success was not a huge surprise, Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s performance was slightly more unexpected.
While Johnson-Thompson’s talent has never been in doubt, putting it all together in the heptathlon is not easy.
She won her first major outdoor title in 2018, taking Commonwealth gold, before winning silver behind Belgian Olympic champion Nafi Thiam at the Europeans later that year.
Coming into 2019, therefore, Thiam looked to be the one to beat, although Johnson-Thompson’s personal best in Gotzis in May, moving to 18th in the all-time record books, showed that she was in fine form.
She maintained that with a pair of third places in the long jump in the Diamond League, before a near-perfect two days in Doha.
The 26-year-old got four personal bests across her seven events, in the 100m hurdles, the shot put, the javelin and the 800m.
That helped her to a score of 6981, breaking Jessica Ennis-Hill’s British record and beating Thiam to the gold medal.
Their rivalry should be one of the storylines of Tokyo next season after some close battles in the last two years.
For now, Asher-Smith and Johnson-Thompson will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Sir Mo Farah, the last athlete to win Sports Personality of the Year, after his own world title in London in 2017.
Sportsbeat 2019