Top performances throughout March earned Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) and Paralympic snowboarder Evan Strong (Maui, Hawaii) Athlete of the Month recognition, while the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team received Team of the Month honors, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.
Hammer won her seventh career world championship gold medal at the 2014 UCI Track World Championships, held March 2 in Cali, Colombia. The reigning women’s omnium world champion won three of the six events outright to take home her second consecutive rainbow jersey in the event. She also claimed the silver medal in the individual pursuit.
Strong captured the gold medal and led a U.S. podium sweep in the Paralympic debut of men’s snowboardcross at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Strong turned in a winning time of 51.62 in the final run to earn the top podium spot by less than half of a second.
The U.S. men’s team became the first to capture back-to-back Paralympic sled hockey gold medals at the Sochi Games. Team USA won two of its three preliminary games before defeating Canada, 3-0, in the semifinal and Russia, 1-0, in the gold-medal game.
Para-Nordic skier Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) finished runner-up and freestyle skier Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) claimed third in the female vote. On the men’s side, alpine skier Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) and sled hockey player Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) earned second and third place. USA Track & Field’s men’s 4×400-meter team finished second, while the U.S. women’s national saber team finished third in the team category.
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. A voting panel selects the winners from the pool of nominees with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 percent of the total vote.
FEMALE
1. Sarah Hammer, Cycling
2. Oksana Masters, Para-Nordic Skiing
3. Hannah Kearney, Freestyle Skiing
MALE
1. Evan Strong, Paralympic Snowboarding
2. Ted Ligety, Alpine Skiing
3. Declan Farmer, Sled Hockey
TEAM
1. 2014 U.S. Paralympic Team, Sled Hockey
2. Men’s 4×400-meter team, Track & Field
3. U.S. women’s national saber team, Fencing
Courtesy of the USOC.