It's been a bad year for British sport. Success at world level has been virtually non-existent, and as a result, the market for BBC's Sports Personality of the Year looks wide open.

Indeed, such is the dearth of British sporting achievement in 2006, the comedian and star of Little Britain, David Walliams, is now the joint-favourite to win the award.

Walliams completed one of the most daunting challenges in world sport, swimming the English Channel.

When he started training for the challenge – only 10 per cent of people who attempt it manage to complete the crossing, while some have died – he could barely swim a mile.