Sarah Stevenson and Rebecca Adlington scoop top sportswomen awards

Rosy Moorhead
WVoN features editor

Two top British female athletes have been awarded separate sportswoman of the year awards this week.

Swimming champion Rebecca Adlington was given the accolade by the Sports Journalists Association after winning gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai in July, and for her double Olympic gold in Beijing.

World triathlon champion Helen Jenkins finished second and jockey Hayley Turner third.

The women were awarded their prizes by former Olympic swimming gold medallist Anita Lonsbrough.

And taekwondo world champion Sarah Stevenson was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year on Wednesday.

She won her world championship title while both her parents, who have since passed away, were battling terminal cancer, making both achievements all the more remarkable.

Stevenson will begin her campaign for Olympic gold in the new year, with the memory of her parents a driving force.

“They lived for what I was doing in taekwondo, that’s all they lived for.”