Marcel Hug is the first contender after he followed up his Paralympic golds with victory in the Chicago Marathon on October 9.

The Swiss wheelchair racer won the T54 marathon gold in Rio as well as the 800 metres title.

Hug then beat Australia’s defending champion Kurt Fearnley to the line in a nail-biting photo finish in Chicago, which saw the pair sprint to the line side-by-side.

It was Hug’s first win in the American city and his fifth victory of the 2016 Abbott World Marathon Majors Series, having already won in Boston, London, Berlin and Rio this year.

Helena Kasicka and Peter Vidasic, the Slovakian wheelchair dance sport athletes, are the second contenders after they were winners at the 2016 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships.

They finally won the elusive Latin combi class one title, an event they have been runners-up in four times at previous World Championships as well as at the last two European events.

Italian wheelchair fencer Emanuele Lambertini is also nominated after the 17-year-old won four medals, including two golds, at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation under-17 and under-23 Wheelchair Fencing World Championships.

Lambertini took the under-17 mixed foil and mixed epee titles after he reached the quarter-finals in the men’s foil category A competition on his Paralympic debut in Rio.

American Tatyana McFadden is the fourth candidate on the shortlist after she collected a phenomenal seventh win in the Chicago Marathon to become the event's most successful champion of all time.

The US wheelchair star, who also won in Boston and London earlier this year, beat Swiss racer Manuela Schaer by 0.01 seconds.

Great Britain's goalball player Laura Perry completes the list of nominees after she scored 31 points to lead her country to gold at the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball European Championship Group B.

Britain were the undisputed winners of the competition after going undefeated, sealing promotion to Group A in the process.

The winner is decided by the public with voting on an online poll here open until November 11.

Last month there were three winners following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Iranian powerlifter Siamand Rahman won the men's award, while his compatriot Sareh Javanmardidomani, a shooter, took the women's prize.

The best team award went to the Brazilian BC3 boccia team.