See the schedule tab to view Evan's race calender as he prepares for the Paralympics. 
Click here for the the 2013-14 Para-Snowboard Race Schedule at the IPC website.

Para-snowboard has been on the tip of everyone’s tongues this week, as the IPCAS Snowboard Cross Test Event was held on Wednesday (6 March) for the sport that will make its Paralympic Games debut in exactly one year.

Fans are excited to see a new, extreme-type sport make its way up to the Paralympic level, and athletes such as USA’s Evan Strong and Amy Purdy, along with New Zealand’s Carl Murphy and the Netherlands’ Biban Mentel are slowly becoming household names.

And, most importantly, after years of petitioning, snowboarders are finally ready to show the world why the deserve to be on the international stage in Paralympic sport.

“It was a movement from a lot of people in a lot of nations, and we’re very proud to have advanced the sport to the Paralympic platform,” Strong said.

“Snowboarding is something new, something fresh that will definitely excited fans at the Paralympic level.

“It’s been great to compete in international competitions. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s going to be like at Sochi 2014.”

Men’s competition

Following Strong’s first-place finish at the test event, he will easily go into Sochi 2014 as the one to beat on the men’s side.

“It felt really good to be here in the biggest most high-profile race for adaptive snowboarding so far,” Strong said after the test event. “So it felt really good to go home with a victory. It's a really good way to go into Sochi for next year.”

Strong has been around action sports his entire life, growing up on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he was formerly a kid skateboarding wiz.

He said most of his training dips into other sports, as when he’s not on the snow he is skateboarding or mountain biking.

At Sochi 2014, the 25-year-old will have plenty of competition from several athletes he knows well who competed with him in adaptive snowboard cross and X-Games events for the last six seasons.

Murphy, along with Canada’s Tyler Mosher and USA’s Mike Shea, will be Strong’s toughest opponents in his quest to claim gold in the men’s lower-limb category, the only classification being offered in snowboard’s Paralympic Games debut.

All of them believe snowboarding has the chance to skyrocket in Paralympic popularity, as the sport did when it debuted at the Olympics.

“I think the same thing will happen with para-snowboard that happened on the Olympic side with snowboard,” Strong said. Read More:

Mentel and Strong win Snowboard Cross
The Netherlands' Bibian Mentel and USA's Evan Strong were victorious at the IPCAS Snowboard Cross Test Event in Sochi, Russia.

The Netherlands' Bibian Mentel and USA’s Evan Strong picked up gold at the IPCAS Snowboard Cross Test Event in Sochi, Russia on Wednesday (6 March).

With just one year and one day to go until the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, 25 athletes from 11 nations competed in warm, sunny conditions on a technical and challenging course in Rosa Khutor, the Paralympic snow sports venue.

There were events for upper and lower limb impairment groups, although only the latter will be a Paralympic event next year.

Strong had the fastest times on the first two runs on the men’s side, allowing him to take gold.

The Hawaiian native did not go into the competition as confidently as he might have hoped, though, having battled illness over the past few days.

“After practice yesterday, I wasn't feeling super-confident, I was sliding down a lot of the turns,” Strong said. “I didn't really know how today was going to go.

“But as soon as I got out the start gate on my first run, it just felt super fluid, really good and I thought, 'I know this feeling, I know how to do this.’”

It was by no means an easy victory, as Strong finished 0.29 seconds ahead of his teammate Mike Shea (1:28.36), who had the fastest time on the third run and was consistently less than 0.2 seconds behind Strong on the other runs. New Zealand's Carl Murphy took bronze in 1:28.71.

“Mike Shea my teammate has been looking super aggressive and really fast all season, and he was definitely keeping it together better in the training,” Strong said. “Seeing that the first six guys were just half a second apart after the first two runs, I knew my work was cut out for me.” Read More:

International Paralympic Committee announces January’s Athlete of the Month shortlist 01.02.2013 Nominees for January’s IPC Athlete of the Month include: Henrieta Farkasova, Kozo Kubo, Shingo Kunieda, Evan Strong and Aniek van Koot.

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

The finalists for January’s top performers include:

- Henrieta Farkasova (Slovakia): The visually impaired skier had two first-place giant slalom finishes at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup event in Sestriere, Italy, as well as a first and second-place finish in the slalom. She also won one of her giant slalom and slalom runs at the World Cup event in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and both of her downhill runs at the Europa Cup in Tarvisio, Italy.

- Kozo Kubo (Japan): Kubo won all three biathlon sitting events at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Wisconsin, USA.

- Shingo Kunieda (Japan): The wheelchair tennis star won his sixth Australian Open title since 2007 in January, beating Frenchman Stephane Houdet in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. He also regained his world No. 1 men’s singles ranking.

- Evan Strong (USA): The American beat 26 other competitors to win the snowboard cross event in the men’s lower-limb classification at the IPC Alpine Skiing event in Nevada, USA, on 27 January.

- Aniek van Koot (Netherlands): The Dutch wheelchair tennis player won the women’s singles title at the Australian Open and moved up to the No. 1 spot on the world rankings list, ahead of compatriot Esther Vergeer, who did not compete. She also reached the final of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour events in Sydney and Melbourne.

The public now has until 12:00 (CEST) on 8 February to vote for which athlete they think had the best performance last month.

The nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees and International Federations.

Let's All Help Evan Win "IPC January Athlete of Month"
Simply go to www.paralympic.org and vote for Evan.

Strong dominates snowboard cross event by www.paralympic.org/news

USA’s Evan Strong and Marc Deraves won their men’s snowboard cross events and the Netherlands’ Bibian Mentel was victorious on the women’s side at the IPC Alpine Skiing event in South Tahoe (Nevada), USA on Sunday (27 January).

Strong, a 2011 X-Games gold medallist, dominated the men’s lower-limb impairment category with a result of 1:39.50, just ahead of Canada’s Ian Lockey who finished in 1:41.02 and his American teammate Keith Gabel, who finished in 1:41.74.

Evan says: "After 9 months of anticipation and preparation for the first US national qualifying World Cup I brought home the GOLD from Sierra at Tahoe! It feels good to start off the season on the "right" foot ;). Now off to the airport to head to CO. For the next World Cup this weekend, stay tuned!"

Full results from the men’s snowboard cross competition can be found here.



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By Alex Houston:

So honored to have recorded Paralympic history in the making today at Sierra at Tahoe
with the largest international adaptive snowboarding competition ever!

Congrats to all the para-snowboarders, especially the lower limb podiums:

Women: Bibian Mentel (gold), Amy Purdy (silver) and newcomer Heidi Jo Duce (bronze)

Men: Evan Strong (gold), Ian Lockey (silver) and Grizzly (Keith) Gabel (bronze)
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By Kathryn Reed  of Lake Tahoe News.

Fifty-four riders from eight countries will be competing this weekend at Sierra-at-Tahoe in the first qualifier for the 2014 U.S. Paralympic snowboarding team.

With the folks associated with next year’s Olympics in Sochi, Russia, deciding less than a year ago to include snowboarding in the Paralympics, riders are scrambling a bit.

“I have personally met several of the athletes. They are inspiring as they have overcome their disabilities, and not only get on the mountain — but can beat about half of us through a race course,” Sierra General Manager John Rice told Lake Tahoe News.

More than 20 officials from the International Paralympic Committee and U.S. Paralympic Committee will be in town this weekend. Read More