Imboden secured the title after becoming the first American to win the Paris Foil World Cup, which is often considered as the most prestigious men's foil events on the World Cup circuit, last month.

He then went on to secure a second gold medal at the tournament in the team competition when the US defeated reigning Olympic champions and multiple World Championships gold medallists Italy 45-44.

His individual victory in France saw him climbing to number three in the world rankings.

Imboden topped Paralympic snowboarder Mike Shea and Paralympic Nordic skier Andy Soule, who finished in second and third place respectively in the ballot, to take the men's Athlete of the Month award.

Wesenberg, meanwhile, made history last month by claiming the women's overall European Cup by a 40-point margin, meaning she is the first American woman to win the overall European Cup, and the first American in 10 years to take the title since Rob Murray claimed the men's crown in 2005.
Kendall Wesenberg is the USOC Women's Athlete of the Month for January after making history at the European Cup ©Twitter



She took the Athlete of the Month title ahead of Paralympic Nordic skier Oksana Masters and water skier Brooke Baldwin, who claimed second and third place in the women's vote.

Elsewhere, the national men's foil squad received Team of the Month recognition for the gold medal at the Paris World Cup.

As well as Imboden, the team comprised Alexander Massialas, Gerek Meinhardt and Miles Chamley-Watson.

They came out on top of the Team of the Month vote ahead of the US men's skeleton North American Cup team and the Women's national under-18 ice hockey team, who came second and third respectively.

The Athlete and Team of the Month award winners are selected by a voting panel, with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 per cent of the total vote, from a pool of nominations from the national governing bodies.

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