The award, presented by the IPC's international partner Allianz, will go to the official who demonstrated the utmost leadership at the 2010 Paralympic Games and Canada's Markus Walser is one of the nominees.

Walser was the race director for the Alpine skiing competition in Vancouver and has been closely linked to the event's incredible success, helping to bring the sport to a new level of professionalism.

Walser's compatriot, Len Apedaile, is a fellow nominee having served as the sport manager for the Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee for Nordic skiing.

Apedaile acted in a critical role to maintain successful operations of the event before and during the Games.

Hans Peter Neeser, of Switzerland, makes the shortlist after his third Winter Games, serving as an IPC technical delegate for biathlon and an assistant for cross-country skiing.

This role, and his position as head of technical control for the Nordic Skiing sport technical committee, made him the primary point of contact for all technical matters at the Whistler Paralympic Park venue.

Christian Egli, also of Switzerland, has been nominated after serving as the IPC technical delegate for cross-country skiing and an assistant for biathlon. Vancouver was his final event as a Games official after many years supporting the IPC at the Paralympic Games and various World Championships.

Egli also helped develop the sit-ski sprint course for Vancouver 2010 and contributed to the newly created IPC Nordic Skiing point system.

The final nominee for the award is Anne Lannem, of Norway, who was the chief classifier for Nordic skiing at Vancouver 2010, in addition to being head of classification for the Nordic skiing sport technical committee.

Lannem also organised classification in the seasons before the Games and was classification leader during the event.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony that coincides with the 2011 IPC general assembly in Beijing, in December, when awards for the best male, female, team and debut performance at Vancouver 2010 will also be presented.

Contact the writer of this article at [email protected]


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