IPC Announces All-Women Shortlist for Athlete of the Month

USA's Laurie Stephens (right) beat Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber to take golds in Downhill, Super G and Super Combined at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tignes, France. © • Nicolas Nereau Germany's Andrea Rothfuss picked up a gold and silver in the Downhill Standing at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tignes, France. © • Nicolas NEREAU Sarah Storey © • Getty Images

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced its shortlist for February’s Athlete of the Month award, and the public can now voice its opinion for the winner via a poll on the homepage of the IPC’s recently launched new-look website, www.paralympic.org.

This month’s shortlist is made up entirely of women in honour of International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The public has until 23:59 (CET) on 7 March 2012 to vote for whom they think had the best performance last month on the para-sport scene.

The finalists for March include:

Sarah Storey (Great, Britain): Storey cruised to gold in the 3km Pursuit C5 and 500m Time Trial C5 and a silver in the Mixed Team Sprint at the Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles, USA.

Oksana Slesarenko (Russia): Russia’s team captain led its Wheelchair Curling team to gold at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Chuncheon, Korea. It was Russia’s first-ever medal in the sport on the international stage.

Andrea Rothfuss (Germany): Rothfuss racked up six total medals – four golds and two silvers – at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup.

Laurie Stephens (USA): The American picked up two golds at the IPC Alpine Skiing NORAM Cup and then three golds at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in February.

Grace Ebere Anozie (Nigeria): Took gold at the final London 2012 Powerlifting qualification event in the women’s over 82.5kg with a lift of 168kg, which would be a new world record if ratified by the IPC.

Thailand’s Women’s Wheelchair Tennis Team: The trio of Ratana Techamaneewat, Sakhorn Khanthasit and Chusri Inthanin qualified for the BNP Paribas World Cup this year with a top performance in the Asia/Oceania region.

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