Vote for IPC Athlete of the Month for August

IPC Athlete of the Month nominees include: Yijun Chen, Sophie Christiansen, Carol-Eduard Novak, Maddison Elliott, Erik Horrie, Sophie Pascoe and Olga Sviderska. 10 Sep 2013

China's Yijun Chen reacts after winning his first wheelchair fencing Paralympic gold at the London 2012 Games.

ⒸGetty Images

By IPC

The public now has until 12:00 (CEST) on 17 September to vote for which athlete it thought had the best performance last month.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced its shortlist for August’s Athlete of the Month award, and the public can now vote for the winner via the poll on www.paralympic.org.

With six World and four regional Championships, August was the busiest month of 2013 in terms of para-sport competitions, and thus the shortlist has been extended to include seven athletes.

World Championships took place in canoe, cycling, rowing, sailing, swimming and wheelchair fencing. Regional Championships took place in boccia, equestrian, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.

The finalists for August’s Athlete of the Month include:

-Yijun Chen (China, wheelchair fencing): China won 10 golds at the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with Chen helping win two of those. He won the men’s individual sabre category A event, and was a part of the squad that won gold in the men’s team foil competition. He also picked up a bronze in the individual foil category A event.

-Sophie Christiansen (Great Britain, equestrian): As the most successful rider at the JYSK FEI European Para-Dressage Championships in Herning, Denmark, Christensen won gold in all three of her events. She claimed top honours in the team competition, individual competition and individual freestyle in the grade 1a class.

-Carol-Eduard Novak (Romania, cycling): The Romanian won world titles in both his events – the C4 road race and time trial – at the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada. In both events, he beat six-time Paralympic champion Jiri Jezek of the Czech Republic.

-Maddison Elliott (Australia, swimming): At just 14 years old, Elliott won gold in both the women’s 50m and 100m freestyle S8 races at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada, beating heavy favourite Jessica Long of the USA in the latter. Elliott also picked up a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle S8.

-Erik Horrie (Australia, rowing): Horrie won the men’s singles sculls (ASM1x) at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea, setting a new world-best time of 4:35.98. In the race, he beat British favourite Tom Aggar and Russian Paralympic bronze medallist Alexey Chuvashev.

-Sophie Pascoe (New Zealand, swimming): At the IPC Swimming World Championships, Pascoe won all five of her events: 50m freestyle S10, 100m backstroke S10, 100m breaststroke SB9, 100m butterfly S10, 100m freestyle S10. She also broke three world records in the process.

-Olga Sviderska (Ukraine, swimming): Sviderska was the top medal winner at the IPC Swimming World Championships, hauling in seven golds, along with three world and four European records. In Montreal, she won the following events: 150 backstroke S3, 50m freestyle S3, 100m freestyle S3, 150m individual medley SM3, 200m freestyle S3, women’s 4x50m freestyle relay 20 points and women’s 4x50m medley relay 20 points.

The public now has until 12:00 (CEST) on 17 September to vote for which athlete it thought had the best performance last month.

The nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs).