Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez has been selected as the Americas ´Athlete of the Month´ by popular vote on the Americas Paralympic Committee´s website americasparalympic.org after rounding off an outstanding month.

In January, the wheelchair tennis player won the Australian Open, the second singles Grand Slam title of his career. Before, Fernandez had claimed both the singles and doubles titles at the Melbourne Open.

The 23-year-old is currently ranked No.4 in the world behind France´s Stephane Houdet, Belgium´s Joachim Gerard and Great Britain´s Gordon Reid. He received an overwhelming 96 per cent of the votes.

USA´s alpine skier Andrew Kurka, who won his first gold medal ever at a World Championships in the men’s downhill sitting in Tarvisio, Italy, finished second with three per cent.

Kurka was followed in the voting by Canadian alpine skier Mac Marcoux, who put in his best ever World Championships performance in Italy, leaving Tarvisio with four golds and one silver medal in the men’s visually impaired – a podium sweep.