Dominant wheelchair racer leads list of USOC monthly award winners

Boston Marathon and London Marathon champion Tatyana Mcfadden has been given the women's USOC monthly award ©Getty Images

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) have announced three-time Paralympic champion Tatyana McFadden, young ice hockey star Auston Matthews and the women’s ice hockey team as the winners of their monthly awards for April, which are presented by Dow.

The dominant McFadden powered to victory in the Boston Marathon on April 20 before she went on to smash the course record at the London Marathon six days later, which also doubled as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Marathon World Championships.

Her time of 1 hour 41min 14sec broke the record by a staggering four minutes and it was not just on the roads where she enjoyed success as she was named as the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, becoming the first American to do so.

Matthews, meanwhile, was integral to the American team claiming gold at the recent 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Under-18 Men’s World Championships, held in in Lucerne and Zug in Switzerland from April 16 to 26.

The young forward amassed the most points at the tournament with 15 and he tied for the most goals with eight.

Matthews was then given the Directorate Award, which rewards the best forward at the tournament, as his side successfully defended their title thanks to a 2-1 overtime victory against Finland.

The United States women's ice hockey team claimed their second straight Women's World Championship title by beating Canada ©Getty Images

The American women’s ice hockey team were also in formidable form during the month of April as they clinched their second straight IIHF Women’s World Championship title by beating arch-rivals Canada 7-5 in the final in Malmo, Sweden.

The victory gave them revenge for their defeat to the Canadians in the gold medal match at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and they did it in style as they went through the tournament unbeaten.

The US produced several blistering displays, scoring 37 goals on their way to taking the Women’s World Championship crown, with Hilary Knight the pick of the bunch with seven.

Athletes are nominated by National Governing Bodies , with an internal Nominating Committee selecting five athletes from male and female categories to be put forward to the voting round, while three teams are selected.

Governing bodies count for 50 per cent of the overall vote, with fans making up the remaining tally by voting online at TeamUSA.org.