Vote now for June’s Allianz Athlete of the Month

Five Para athletes from five different sports shortlisted 02 Jul 2018
Imagen
five Para athletes competing at their sports

(Clockwise from top left) Altunoluk, Ricardinho, Romanchuk, Skarstein and Kunieda are up for June's AOTM

ⒸGetty Images / World Rowing / Madrid 2018
By IPC

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has revealed the shortlist for June’s Allianz Athlete of the Month , and the public can now vote for the winner on www.paralympic.org.

The nominations are:

Sevda Altunoluk, Turkey, goalball

The 24-year-old was the tournament’s top scorer (both men and women’s) with 46 goals at the 2018 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball World Championships in Malmo, Sweden. She was a crucial part of Turkey’s path to silver medal success.

Shingo Kunieda, Japan, wheelchair tennis

Kunieda went undefeated when leading Japan to their third BNP Paribas World Team Cup men's title. A week later, he also won his 22nd career Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros, winning all his matches in straight sets to reclaim the world No. 1 ranking for the first time since January 2016.

Ricardinho, Brazil, blind football

The Brazilian showed why he is one of the best players of all time after leading Brazil to their third consecutive gold medal at the 2018 Blind Football World Championships in Madrid, Spain. He was the tournament’s top scorer with 10 goals.

Daniel Romanchuk, USA, athletics

Romanchuk broke the 5,000m T54 world record in the Swiss Nationals at the beginning of June, then the 800m T54 at the Arizona Grand Prix, becoming the first athlete to go sub-1:30.

Birgit Skarstein, Norway, rowing

During her preliminary race at the World Cup II in Linz-Ottensheim, Skarstein broke the World Best Time in the PR1 women’s single sculls before going on to win the final in dominating style.

The public has until 12:00 (CEST) on Monday (9 July) to vote for the athlete they want to be the Allianz Athlete of the Month for June 2018 via the International Paralympic Committee homepage.

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

The 2018 winners are:

January – Oksana Masters, USA, Nordic skiing

February – Mac Marcoux, CAN, alpine skiing

March (Best Male) – Brian McKeever, CAN, Nordic skiing

March (Best Female) – Ekaterina Rumyantseva, NPA, Nordic skiing

March (Best Team) – Chinese wheelchair curling team

April – Gemma Collis-McCann, GBR, wheelchair fencing

May – Sareh Javanmardi, IRI, shooting