John O’ Groats youngster John Paul could be set to follow in the footsteps of Wayne Rooney after being named on a ten-person shortlist for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

Rooney won the award in 2002 and cyclist Paul is in line to scoop the award after an impressive year including two gold medals at the National Track Championships in Wales.

The 16-year-old is among the fastest sprinters in the world for his age group and his sprint times have eclipsed Olympic star Jason Kenny’s at the same age.

His achievements have not gone unnoticed by Lloyds TSB who have selected him to be part of their Local Heroes scheme, handing him £1000 of funding in the build up to London 2012.

The award will be given out at the Sports Personality of the Year event in Sheffield on December 13 and chairman of the decision panel John Inverdale admits the competition is tough.

“I think every year we say the depth of competition gets more and more intense," said Inverdale.

"This year we have ended up with a top 10 but it could have been a top 15 or 17. Now almost everybody is a world-ranked performer in the sport they do."