Vote now for November’s Allianz Athlete of the Month

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has revealed the shortlist for November’s Allianz Athlete of the Month, and the public can now vote for the winner on our website..

The nominations are:

Soohee Choi, South Korea, judo

Choi beat two Paralympic champions to claim gold at the World Championships. The 25-year-old toppled France’s Sandrine Martinet, the Rio 2016 champion from the up to 52kg, and China’s Li Liqing on her way to the women’s up to 48kg title.

Olena Chynka, Ukraine, Para dance sport

The Ukrainian won five gold medals over three busy days at the European Championships in Lomianki, Poland.

Haiyan Gu, China, wheelchair fencing

The 19-year-old beat Hungary’s world champion Zsuzsanna Krajnyak with an impressive 15-8 score for her first World Cup win in the foil, adding to her Asian Championships silver medal from October. It was a major upset in the women’s foil category A in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Sun Qi, China, snowboard

The 19-year-old first took a silver medal at the opening World Cup in Dubai, UAE, before completely dominating the men’s banked slalom SB-LL2 in Landgraaf, Netherlands. He not only clocked the fastest time among all riders on day one but went even faster the following day on his way to a stunning double gold.

Matti Suur-Hamari, Finland, snowboard

The Finn won both snowboard-cross races in his home World Cup, including an historic victory in the first four-way race. He also took a pair of banked slalom silvers at the Landgraaf World Cup.

The public has until 12:00 (CEST) on Tuesday (11 December) to vote for the athlete they want to be the Allianz Athlete of the Month for November 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

June – Sevda Altunoluk, TUR, goalball

July – Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, IRI, sitting volleyball

August – Greg Polychronidis, GRE, boccia

September – Corne de Koning, NED, rowing

October – Japanese women's goalball team