Birgit Skarstein has been elected as a member of the IPC Athletes' Council ©Getty Images

Norway's Birgit Skarstein and Joshua Dueck of Canada have been voted onto the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletes' Council and will serve until the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.

Cross-country skier Skarstein received 288 votes and Alpine skier Dueck's 245, while the third available position has not yet been filled due to a tie between Australia's Mitchell Gourley and Rico Roman of the United States.

The Alpine skier and ice hockey player, respectively, gained 225 votes each.

As a result of the draw, the position will remain vacant until the next Athletes' Council meeting in April, where a decision on how to proceed will be made.

"It is important to add that these last two years have been a very challenging for the athlete community from winter sports with so many of their events postponed or cancelled, but they have come to Beijing and produced astonishing levels of high-performance sport," said IPC Athletes' Council chair Jitske Visser.

"We have also had an unprecedented two Paralympic Games in seven months.

"Now the hard work starts for the Athletes’ Council as we must fully-focus on what we can do as the voice of Paralympic athletes within the Paralympic Movement.

"I am very hopeful that we can make a lot of positive progress."

Joshua Dueck received 245 votes which was enough to see him elected as an IPC Athletes' Council member ©Getty Images
Joshua Dueck received 245 votes which was enough to see him elected as an IPC Athletes' Council member ©Getty Images

There were eight candidates for the three roles, which attracted votes from 516 athletes at a voter turnout of 67.5 per cent.

There were 57 more votes cast than in the Pyeongchang 2018 election.

Skarstein, France’s Marie Bochet and Finland’s Rudolf Klemetti were elected as winter representatives at Pyeongchang 2018.

Skarstein achieved her best Winter Paralympic finish at Beijing 2022, coming sixth in the women's long-distance sitting event.

She won gold at Tokyo 2020 in the women's single sculls rowing discipline.

Dueck won men's combined gold at Sochi 2014.

This year's other candidates were Chinese Alpine skier Liu Sitong, Russian cross-country skier Akzhana Abdikarimova, ice hockey player Han Min-su of South Korea and Spaniard Pol Makuri Redolad Garcia who competes in cross-country skiing.

The IPC Athletes’ Council is made up of nine athletes in total, which includes three winter and six summer representatives.

The chair of the Council - presently Visser of The Netherlands - also sits on the IPC Governing Board.