Josh Dueck’s trophy case keeps getting bigger.
The Vernon Paralympian was named winner of the Athlete with a Disability category at the 49th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards hosted by Sport B.C. Thursday in Vancouver.
Dueck, newly retired from Para-alpine ski racing, won gold and silver medals at the 2014 Sochi (Russia) Paralympics, adding to a silver he won at the Vancouver Paralympics in 2010.
“What an absolute honour it is to be named B.C. athlete of the year,” said Dueck.
“The evening itself was a spectacular celebration of community and sport. To be recognized by this audience of sport leaders, and to follow in the footsteps of other sporting giants, is surreal. My career and successes are deeply influenced by my friends, family and the community at large.”
Dueck brought world attention to sit-skiing when he became the first person to perform a back-flip on snow in a sit-ski in 2012, followed by an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres television show.
Spallumcheen Paralympic wheelchair curling gold medalist and world champion Ina Forrest was a finalist in the same category.
Fellow Para-alpine athlete Kimberly Joines of Rossland, a bronze medalist in Sochi, was named winner of the Harry Jerome Comeback Award.
Joines has accumulated 42 World Cup medals, including World Cup Champion titles, and 32 broken bones in her career.
Known for her resilience and commitment to Para-alpine, she was competing in a Paralympic test event in Sochi in March 2013 and injured both her right and left arms and sustained a third degree separation in her shoulder. She came back from the injury to register four podium finishes before Sochi, and was crowned 2014 national champion in Whistler a few weeks later.
