Nicole Roundy

Since the separation of the lower-limb impairment classes ahead of the 2014-15 season, the USA’s Nicole Roundy has really come into her own.

The 29-year-old cemented her status as one of the world’s best riders at the 2015 IPC Snowboard World Championships in La Molina, Spain, with two bronze medals in snowboard-cross and banked slalom.

To top it all off, Roundy finished second in the women’s SB-LL1 overall World Cup rankings, just behind French Sochi 2014 silver medallist Cecile Hernandez-Cervellon.

In 2015-16, the Paralympian once again ended second to Hernandez Cervellon in the overall rankings, but won the snowboard-cross for the first time and finished second in the banked slalom. She is hoping to finally overtake her main rival in the next season.

Roundy is also a trailblazer. In 2006, she became the first above the knee amputee, male or female, to compete in Para snowboard, eight years before the sport made its debut at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. Her efforts made a significant contribution to the sport’s case for inclusion.

She lost her right leg to cancer at the age of eight and is an accomplished motivational speaker, who holds a degree in business management. Roundy is an advocate for The Challenged Athletes Foundation, The National Ability Centre and childhood cancer research.

Roundy will be amongst the more the 100 athletes competing at the 2017 World Para Snowboard World Championships in Big White, Canada.