Paralympic and world medallists dominate latest US Para-Alpine skiing and snowboarding squad

Snowboarding champion Evan Strong will be targeting more major medals in 2015 ©Getty Images

An array of reigning Paralympic and world champions will lead the United States Alpine skiing and snowboarding squads for the 2015-2016 season, including Sochi 2014 gold medal winner Evan Strong.

Strong led home a US clean sweep in the Russian resort to secure the first ever men's snowboarding title at the Winter Paralympics.

He will be joined by Sochi silver medallist Mike Shea, the reigning LL-2 banked slalom world champion, and the third member of the Paralympic podium trio Keith Gabel

An almost equally as strong women's squad will be led by Brenna Huckaby, winner of the women’s LL-1 snowboard-cross world title this year, as well as finishing second in the banked slalom.

She will be joined by Heidi Jo Duce and Nicole Roundy, both of whom also secured two medals at the World Championships in La Molina in February.

The skiing squad will be led by Paralympic bronze medallist Danelle Umstead, who competes in the visually impaired category guided by her husband Rob and who has also won three World Championship medals.

She will be joined by Laurie Stephens and Stephanie Jallen, who have each won Paralympic and World Championship medals over the last two seasons in their respective sitting and standing classes.

Stephanie Jallen has been one of the big stars in the US Alpine team in recent years ©Getty Images

On the men’s side, Mark Bathum and guide Cade Yamamoto return with the most decorated record with two silver medals from Sochi 2014 and one silver from the World Championships, while Andrew Kurka also rebounded from early-season injuries to win his first World Championship medal with a bronze in the Super-G.

“We are excited to have so many of our World Championship and Sochi medalists return to the national team,” said Kevin Jardine, high performance director, US Paralympics alpine skiing and snowboarding.

“Twenty sixteen is an interesting year for us with no World Championships, but it is a very important year of development as we look forward to the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.”

Training will commence over coming weeks, with the first major test of the snowboarding season due to come at the World Cup in the Dutch resort of Landgraaf from November 19 to 20.

A first Alpine World Cup event is due to take place in Abtenau, Austria, on January 15.