After claiming two silver medals at London 2012, Bascio went into 2013 and won every individual event she raced in before retiring.

She got the victories underway at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Para-cycling World Cups in Italy and Spain to take the overall title at the finals with wins in the time trial, road race and team relay.

This form continued at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Quebec where she claimed the time trial title in 35min 44.93sec, more than a minute faster than her nearest challenger, and the road race in 1 hour 49mi 26sec, nearly three minutes faster than the second place finisher.

Martin, meanwhile, claims the sportsman of the year title for the second consecutive year after winning four gold medals at last summer's Paralympics.

The USOC has named Raymond Martin as Paralympic sportsman of the year after his gold medal hauls at London 2012 and the IPC World Championships


At just 19-years-old, he became the first man to win five golds in the history of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Champions, where triumphed in the 100 metres, 200m, 400m, 800m - in which he set an American record of 1:59.52 - and 1500m races.

In addition, he won all five events at the 2013 US Paralympics Track and Field National Championships, a feat all the more impressive when you consider the fact that he is also studying for a degree in kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The USOC also named the men's 4x100m relay squad of Richard Browne, Blake Leeper, Jerome Singleton and Jarryd Wallace as its Paralympic team of the year after it claimed the world title at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon.

As well as claiming the team gold in a world record time of 40.73, the four athletes also won an impressive collection on individual medals in the French city, with Browne taking silver in the T44 100m, Leeper winning silver in the T43 100 and 200, and T44/43 400m, Singleton securing bronze in the T44 100 and 200m and Wallace clinching gold in the T44 200m.

They will all be presented with their awards during a special reception in New York City that is being held in conjunction with the celebrations to mark the 100 days to go countdown to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics next Tuesday (October 29).

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