Russia’s Andrey Smirnov has been named the Allianz Athlete of the Month for February following his team’s success at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2016.

Smirnov, the team skip, helped Russia defeat Norway 7-4 in the finals. It was Russia’s second straight world title – their third in five years – and bumped them to No. 1 in the world rankings. Russia went 9-2 overall in the tournament, which was held in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Smirnov received 51 per cent the public vote. Australian athlete Isis Holt was second with 40 per cent. Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee came in third with five per cent of the votes, followed by French alpine skier Marie Bochet (two per cent) and Russian Nordic skier Stanislav Chokhlaev (one per cent).

The 2016 winners are:

January – Abdullah Sultan Alaryani, United Arab Emirates, shooting