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:

On February 3rd and 4th Para-Snowboarders from seven countries hit the slopes at Orcières 1850 to compete for Gold in back to back WSF Para-Snowboard World Cups hosted by Orcières 1850, the French Snowboard Initiative, My Snowboarding, and WSF.

The 2011 Orcières 1850 WSF Para-Snowboard World Cups yielded some of today’s top talent from around the globe; including riders from Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Add the top riders in the sport to the hard packed snow conditions on the course and two WSF Para-Snowboard World Cup Gold medals on the line, and the result was two exciting days of competition.

In the Men’s Standing Category, Evan Strong from the USA set the stage for Para-Snowboarders by bringing home Gold on both days. Not far behind was Tyler Mosher, from Canada and previous WSF Para-Snowboard World Champion, took home the Silver by only .07 seconds on day two of the WSF Para-Snowboard World Cups making for an exciting finish. Mosher also took home Silver on day one. And Keith Gabel assisted Team USA with their overall medal count by finished both days with Bronze medals.

This winter at X Games 15 in Aspen Colorado, Adaptive Action Sports brought a ground breaking event to life: Adaptive Snowboarder X. Partnering with the X Games AAS invited six of the top ranked adaptive snowboarders in the world to compete in an all-out race to the bottom. Evan Strong, Mike Shea and Dan Monzo were among the competitors. They finished in first, second and third places.

Evan Strong, a single below knee amputee, commanded the race from the beginning and crossed the finish line first after nailing the 60 foot jump at the bottom of the course. 
“This is one of the best moments of my life. This is awesome!” Evan exclaimed at the bottom of the course before raising his arms in victory to the hundreds of spectators watching.