Paralympics in Beijing, plus various world championships – the calendar for the para athletes was full in 2022. Now the elections are coming up – who will be the athlete of the year?
The election of the para athletes of the year is coming up again. After the difficult Corona years, the German athletes were again able to show themselves and distinguish themselves at many top-class events in 2022.
In addition to the highlight of the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, where Team Germany Paralympics won a total of 19 medals, numerous other success stories were written.
Opportunities were offered by the World Championships in Para Swimming, Para Cycling, Para Badminton, Para Rowing, Para Table Tennis or the European Championships in Munich. Five athletes, five athletes, three teams and three young athletes have now been nominated.
Panel of experts and fans decide
An eight-strong panel of experts, which has already made the pre-selection, as well as fans and those interested in para sports will again decide on the winners of the election of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS).
From Wednesday, November 16, 8 a.m. to Monday, November 21, 12 p.m. can be voted on here.
Four categories
In the public round, the following top athletes can be selected in alphabetical order in the four categories Para Athlete, Para Athlete, Para Team and Para Junior Athlete:
Para athlete:
• Anna-Lena Forster (Para Alpine Skiing)
• Maike Hausberger (para cycling)
• Linn Kazmaier (Para Ski Nordic)
• Leonie Walter (Para Ski Nordic)
• Annika Zeyen (Para Cycling)
Para athletes:
• Valentin Baus (Para Table Tennis)
• Taliso Angel (Para Swimming)
• Marco Maier (Para Ski Nordic)
• Thomas Schmidtberger (Para Table Tennis)
• Michael Teuber (Para Cycling)
para team:
• Para badminton doubles (Rick Hellmann & Thomas Wandschneider)
• Para rowing mixed fours with helmswoman (Jan Helmich, Susanne Lackner, Marc Lembeck, Kathrin Marchand, Inga Thöne)
• Para table tennis mixed doubles (Thomas Brüchle & Sandra Mikolaschek)
Para young athletes:
• Maximilian Jäger (Para Cycling)
• Linn Kazmaier (Para Ski Nordic)
• Leonie Walter (Para Ski Nordic)
The winners will be chosen as the Para Athletes of the Year 2022 in front of 300 invited guests on Saturday, November 26th, in a ceremony on the Rheinterrasse in Düsseldorf. Then the honorary award 2021 of the DBS will be awarded with a delay of one year. Because last year the gala had to be canceled and the award ceremony took place digitally, as in 2020, due to the corona pandemic.