Japan’s Kubo voted IPC Athlete of the Month

Germany, Feb 16, 2013: After winning all three of the biathlon sitting events at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup last month in Cable, Wisconsin, USA, Kozo Kubo of Japan was voted by the public as the IPC’s Athlete of the Month for January.

Kubo finished first in the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup biathlon rankings and his performance in Cable bumped him up to second place in the overall season rankings behind Russia’s Roman Petushkov.

In Cable, the 31-year-old won the long-distance biathlon sitting event in a top time of 40:36.6. He also won the short and middle-distance events in times of 22:03.0 and 32.07.2, respectively.

Kubo finished with 45 per cent of the vote, just edging ahead of US snowboarder Evan Strong for the honour. Dutch wheelchair tennis player Aniek van Koot, Japanese wheelchair tennis player Shingo Kunieda and Slovakian alpine skier Henrieta Farkasova were also on the shortlist for the award.

The next major event for Kubo’s sport is the 2013 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships, which will take place from 25 February – 5 March in Solleftea, Sweden.

IPC Athlete of the Month nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees and International Federations. —- IPC