Evan Strong: Snowboarding
Snowboarder Evan Strong grew up on the shores of Maui. Originally a surfer, he took up skateboarding at the age of 13 and quickly started working towards his dreams of going pro. By the age of 17, Evan was all ready to climb the pro ranks. However, his dreams were sidelined when a drunk driver tragically struck him while he was on his motorcycle. Doctors amputated his left leg three days later. Even though his recovery was difficult, he refused to give up the sports he loved. After becoming very involved with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, Evan decided to move to Lake Tahoe to pursue his interest in snowboarding. Since starting the sport, he's won eight World Cups, as well as Gold and Bronze medals in the X-Games and even earned the title of World Champion. Now, he has two goals he wants to achieve: winning the able-bodied U.S. Snowboarding National Championship, and representing Team USA in Sochi.

BMW is a proud partner of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams.

NEW BERLIN, N.Y., Oct. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes embark on the final 100 days of training, Chobani, Inc., maker of America's No. 1–selling Greek Yogurt brand, is helping to naturally power six athletes' journeys to the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Evan Strong (Para-Snowboard Cross)
Favorite Chobani flavor: Plain
Evan Strong grew up in Hawaii, where he fell in love with action sports. At the age of 17 he was hit head-on by an SUV while riding his motorcycle. The accident changed his life and later ignited his passion to be the best in the sport of Para-Snowboard Cross. Evan is the reigning Para-Snowboard Cross World Champion and was the Winter X Games 15 Gold Medalist.  He is an eight-time World Cup Gold Medalist and is considered the favorite to win gold in Sochi.

Topps is again coming out with a special U.S. Olympic trading card set for the Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games. Images of the cards have been published on hobby websites.

The release date is Nov. 6, according to Cardboard Connection.

Published on Oct 24, 2013

After a serious accident, Evan Strong was worried he'd never skateboard again. He's done that and much more.

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Three top snowboarders to look out for during the 2013/13 season build up to Sochi 2014.

With 150 days to go until snowboard’s first appearance at a Paralympic Winter Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has named three para-snowboarders as Ones to Watch in the season leading up to Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Those featured are amongst the most successful para-snowboarders on the circuit and have been at the forefront of developing the sport in recent times through their incredible clutch of victories both on and off the snow.

American 2012 para-snowboard cross world champion Evan Strong will start as favourite for Paralympic gold in Sochi, especially after winning gold in March’s Sochi Test Event. He is also a seven-time World Cup gold medallist, but will be challenged by team-mate Mike Shea and New Zealand’s Carl Muprhy, who was recently named Athlete of the Year by Snowsports New Zealand.

Strong is a protégé of team-mate Amy Purdy, who herself makes the list. Purdy has won the 2012 world championships and three World Cup titles in a career which has also seen her found her own not-for-profit organisation, Adaptive Action Sports, to help others into sport, art and music. The 33 year-old will be hoping to make history by becoming the first female Paralympic gold medallist in para-snowboard cross, and if Strong medals too, it will be a double victory for the woman who has made an incredible contribution to snowboarding.

Rounding off the three boarders is Dutch rider Bibian Mentel, a six-time national champion in half-pipe and snowboard cross. Mentel was well on her way to qualifying for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games when she lost her lower right leg to cancer. Within four months of that operation she was back riding and became national champion soon after.

In 2013, Mentel won the women’s race at the snowboard-cross Sochi Test Event with a time that would have placed her in second in the men’s event. She is one of Amy Purdy’s closest rivals heading into Sochi and the two will be racing hard to make history from 7 March when the Paralympics begin.

Mentel has set-up her own not-for-profit in the Mentelity Foundation which aims to encourage children with an impairment to get involved in sport.

The season kicks off for riders on 21-22 November with a Europa Cup in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, followed by the first World Cup event in Copper, USA on 19-20 January 2014.

Find out top athletes to follow on the road to Sochi 2014 and the storylines behind their achievements.

With exactly 150 days to go until the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has unveiled the athletes who will be a part of its Ones to Watch campaign in the lead-up to and during the Games.

The Sochi 2014 Ones to Watch campaign will ultimately include 40 athletes, with the final selections coming following this month’s IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Qualification Tournament in Torino, Italy.

The IPC’s Ones to Watch initiative will showcase the top winter athletes around the world, with all of the selections having won medals on the international stage, in addition to strong appearances in the media.

Leading names in the campaign include Russian ice sledge hockey player Dmitry Lisov, French alpine skier Marie Bochet, American snowboarder Evan Strong, Ukrainian Nordic skier Olena Iurkovska and Canadian wheelchair curler Sonja Gaudet.

Bochet won five world titles last season on the slopes, Strong is ranked world No. 1 in his snowboard discipline and Iurkovska is a five-time Paralympic champion on the trails.

Meanwhile, Lisov helped Russia’s ice sledge hockey team qualify for their first Paralympic Winter Games and Gaudet is hoping to lead Canada to their third-straight wheelchair curling Paralympic title in Sochi.

For the complete list of Sochi 2014 Ones to Watch athletes, please click here.