Triple Paralympic champion McFadden heads USOC October Athlete of the Month winners

By Gary Anderson

November 7 - Triple Paralympic and six-time world champion Tatyana McFadden picked up the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) female Athlete of the Month award for October after her third marathon victory of the year in Chicago.

McFadden was joined on the honours list by alpine skier Ted Ligety, who picked up the male Athlete of the Month prize.

Bach volleyball duo Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross were awarded Team of the Month.

McFadden's performance in the Windy City, in a course record time of 1 hour 42min 35sec, saw her become the first athlete in history to register three marathon wins in one year after her triumphs in Boston and London.

The 24-year-old has already put herself in prime position to pick up the November award as she went on to complete the marathon Grand Slam in New York just last week to power her way into the history books.

It continued a remarkable run of form which has seen the wheelchair racer add to her three gold medals at London 2012 with six world titles at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships in Lyon in July.

Tatyana McFadden's win in Chicago was the third of four marathon victories this year as she completed the Grand Slam

Gymnast Simone Biles and modern pentathlete Margaux Isaksen finished second and third in the poll, which sees athletes chosen by a USOC voting panel with 10 per cent of the voting accounted for by fans on Twitter.

Turin 2006 combined skiing gold medal winner Ligety topped the male athlete poll ahead of speedskater Shani Davis and judo competitor Travis Stevens.

Ligety, a world champion in 2011, created history by winning a third consecutive International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine World Cup in Soelden in the giant slalom to record the 18th World Cup win of his career.

Ted Ligety secured his third consecutive Alpine World Cup win in Soelden Austria during October

That capped a great year for the 29-year-old who just last month was named Sportsman of the Year by USOC following a year which saw him become only the second man in history to win six or more giant slalom gold medals in one season.

At the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Schladming, Austria, Ligety topped the podium in the super-G, super combined and giant slalom events, becoming only the fourth man ever to do so at a single Championships.

Three-time Olympic champion Jennings was also a history maker in October after becoming the most successful player in women's beach volleyball by winning the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) Grand Slam in Xiamen, China, the 113th win of her career.