Five para-athletes have been shortlisted for the Allianz Athlete of the Month poll for April 2015 and the public are now invited to vote for their winner via www.paralympic.org.

The nominations are:

Ilse Hayes, South Africa, athletics

The T13 sprinter ran 11.89 at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to become the world’s fastest female Paralympian. The 29-year-old knocked 0.1 seconds off the previous T13 record set in November 2011 by Cuba’s Omara Durand.

Tatyana McFadden, USA, athletics

Six days after winning the Boston Marathon, McFadden won gold at the IPC Athletics Marathon World Championships in London. Her time of 1:41:14 was more than four minutes faster than her course record.

Nigel Murray, Great Britain, boccia

The BC2 boccia player claimed two gold medals at the 2015 Boccia European Continental Cup by winning 11 out of 11 matches. An integral figure in the British team for a number of years, the Sydney 2000 gold medallist made his case for Rio 2016.

Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand, swimming

The 100m freestyle (59.77) world record and 100m butterfly (1:03.72) marks in the women’s S10 now belong to Pascoe following the Swimming New Zealand Open Championships, where she secured her place on the team for July’s 2015 IPC Swimming Worlds in Glasgow, Great Britain.

Amalia Perez, Mexico, powerlifting

After spending most of the 2014 season recovering from a shoulder injury, Paralympic and world champion Perez returned to full strength at the 2015 IPC Powerlifting Open Americas Championships in Mexico City setting a new world record of 127kg in the women’s up to 61kg.

The public has until 12:00 (CEST) on Friday (8 May) to vote for the athlete they want to be the Allianz Athlete of the Month for January 2015 via the www.paralympic.org homepage.

The nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs).

The 2015 winners so far are:

January – Andrew Soule, USA, Nordic skiing

February – Chris Vos, the Netherlands, snowboard

March – Maksym Nikolenko, Ukraine, table tennis