Seven candidates running for IPC Athletes’ Council

Seven winter sport athletes have been nominated by their respective National Paralympic Committees for the IPC Athletes’ Council elections that will take place during the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

The seven candidates vying for the three positions available on the council are:

● Zsolt Balogh (HUN) Alpine skiing

● Marie Bochet (FRA) Alpine skiing

● Rudolf Klemetto (FIN) Nordic skiing

● Claudia Lösch (AUT) Alpine skiing

● Yuanyuan Peng (CHN) Nordic skiing

● Birgit Røkkum Skarstein (NOR) Nordic skiing

● Witold Skupień (POL) Nordic skiing

The IPC Athletes’ Council election will take place 7-16 March 2018 in the Proud Paralympian area of the Athletes’ Dining Hall. The three elected candidates will replace Norway’s Eskil Hagen, Finland’s Katja Saarinen and Russia’s Mikhail Terentiev who will all step down from their positions in March.

A candidate brochure providing more information on each candidate and further information about the elections will be published in the upcoming weeks.

Chelsey Gotell, Chairperson of the IPC Athletes’ Council, said: “I think it shows the growing profile of the IPC Athletes’ Council that we have more than twice as many candidates standing for election in 2018 as we did in 2014.

“I urge all athletes attending PyeongChang 2018 to listen to what each candidate has to say before casting their all-important vote. The three elected candidates will join an enthusiastic group of summer athletes who are deeply committed to strengthening the IPC and all member organisations as athlete centred organisations.”

The Athletes’ Council acts as the liaison between athletes and decision-makers and influences how Paralympic sport and the Movement grow and develop. The existing council members are Vice chairperson Elvira Stinissen of the Netherlands, the USA’s Monica Bascio, Australia’s Kurt Fearnley, Turkey’s Gizem Girismen, Great Britain’s Sarah Storey, Singapore’s Nurulasyiqah Mohammad Taha and South Korea’s Hong Suk man. They are joined by IOC Athletes’ Commission Representative Hayley Wickenheiser.

All candidates are active Paralympic athletes. This means he or she must compete in the current edition of the Paralympic Winter Games at which the election is taking place, or have competed in either of the previous two editions of the Paralympic Winter Games(Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014).