Kelsey DiClaudio puts women’s Para ice hockey in the Laureus spotlight

Kelsey DiClaudio is not the average Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award nominee. Unlike other shortlisted athletes and previous winners, she has never competed in the Paralympic Games – and, for now, she still does not know when or if she will be able to.

DiClaudio is the first-ever female Para ice hockey player nominated to the Laureus since the awards were launched in 1999. Women’s Para ice hockey is not part of the Paralympic Winter Games programme, and while the Paralympic tournament is open-gender, only four female athletes have ever competed in it – Japan’s Akari Fukunishi being the most recent, at Milano Cortina 2026.

Last year, Dolny Kubin in Slovakia held the inaugural Women’s World Championships, where DiClaudio led Team USA to gold and was named tournament MVP. Her standout performance earned her the Laureus nomination.

“At the inaugural Women’s World Para Ice Hockey Championships, held in Slovakia in August 2025, one player emerged as a leading protagonist. Kelsey DiClaudio of Team USA scored the first and final goals of the tournament as the US team won the gold medal. In the final, DiClaudio was on target four times to finish as the tournament’s top scorer and the winner of the MVP award,” read the Laureus announcement.

And what goals those were. Just 13 seconds into the opening game against Australia, the USA forward delivered a lightning-fast strike that set the tone for an 8-0 victory. Five days later, on 31 August, Team USA beat Canada 7-1 to claim the first women’s world title. DiClaudio scored four times, including an amazing first-ever “Michigan” goal.

“To play this sport alongside your best friend is special,” DiClaudio said after the win. “Growing up, I didn’t see that many women playing. Now it’s everywhere.”

Back to a final and a tournament to remember for Kelsey DiClaudio ❤️🤍💙🥇

Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Nominee#Laureus26 | @usahockey | @paraicehockey pic.twitter.com/sHwVwIhQLG

— Laureus (@LaureusSport) March 18, 2026

The Laureus award winners will be selected by members of the Laureus World Sports Academy and revealed at a gala event at the Cibeles Palace in Madrid on Monday, 20 April. DiClaudio will be in the Spanish capital and hopes the occasion will give her sport more visibility in its quest to join the Paralympic programme in the future.

“It’s a big honour to be nominated for this award. I wouldn’t be where I am without my teammates and all my supporters. So, it’s exciting for all of us. I hope to spread awareness about the sport of Para ice hockey while I am there,” she said.

She is the only winter Para sport athlete nominated this year. Meeting the other five candidates – all Paralympians – will be a new experience for DiClaudio.

“I don’t personally know any of the other nominees in my category, but I have heard of a couple of them prior to the nomination. I feel honoured to be nominated for this award alongside such incredible athletes,” she added.

The other athletes come from Para athletics (Ecuador’s Kiara Rodriguez and Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner) and Para swimming (Brazil’s Gabriel Araujo, Czechia’s David Kratochvil and Italy’s Simone Barlaam). To date, only one Para ice hockey player – her countryman Declan Farmer – had been shortlisted for a Laureus award, back in 2023.

Before travelling to Spain, DiClaudio joined Team USA for the inaugural Frontier Series against Canada, held from 10-12 April in Ottawa. The reigning world champions won 2-1 in the shootout, 5-4, and 7-1, with DiClaudio named USA Player of the Series. 

Whether in Dolny Kubin, Ottawa or Madrid, one remains constant: DiClaudio continues to share her dream of competing at the Paralympic Games.

“You will 100 per cent see me at the 2030 Paralympics,” she told World Para Ice Hockey last year. “There is not a single part of me that is giving up on this Paralympic dream. As long as my body and my mind allow it, I plan to be there.”

DiClaudio Facts and Figures

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pensylvania

Team: Pittsgburgh Mighty Penguins 

Cat’s name: Maxwell

Women’s Para ice hockey international titles: 

One Women’s World Para Ice Hockey Championships (Dolny Kubin 2025)

Three WPIH Women’s World Challenges (Green Bay 2022, Green Bay 2023 and Skien 2024).

How she fell in love with the sport: 

“Watching Vancouver 2010 [Paralympic Winter Games]. At the time, I didn’t even know there was a women’s team. I didn’t know other girls played sled hockey. My goal was to make the men’s team, because that was the only Paralympic path I could even imagine.”