Oklahoman Cassie Mitchell, who gained fame as a Paralympian at the Rio Paralympics last year, broke a 28-year-old record in May and is nominated as Paralympic Athlete of the Month.
Mitchell, of Warner, broke the world record at the Arizona Grand Prix. The T51 athlete, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year, clocked 6:25.19 in the 1,500-meter T33/34/51, knocking a remarkable 1:34.61 off the previous mark which had stood since 1989.
Five Para athletes have been shortlisted for the Allianz Athlete of the Month poll for May 2017, and the public are now invited to vote for their winner via www.paralympic.org.
The public has until June 8 to vote for their favorite.
The other four nominated are:
Bruna Costa Alexandre, Brazil, table tennis
Helped Brazil clinch gold in the women’s class 9-10 at the ITTF Para World Team Championships. It was Brazil and Latin America’s first ever world title in the sport.
Zhenzhen Zhu, China, wheelchair tennis
Defeated world No. 3 Diede de Groot to pull off a memorable upset with compatriot Hui Min Huang at the World Team Cup, beating top seed and 29-time champions the Netherlands 2-0 to win China's first women’s title ever.
Evan Medell, USA, taekwondo
Caused a major upset by defeating Croatia's world No.1 Ivan Mikulic in the final of the men’s over 75kg K44 to win the Oceania Para Taekwondo Open in Auckland, New Zealand.
Watcharaphon Vongsa, Thailand, boccia
Beat compatriot Worawut Saengampa in a tight 6-5 finals to win the BC2 individual event at the BISFed 2017 Asia-Oceania Championships.
The public has until 13:00 (CEST) on Thursday (8 June) to vote for the athlete they want to be the Allianz Athlete of the Month for May 2017 via the www.paralympic.org homepage.
The nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs).
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