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Huntsville's Megan Harmon selected for U.S. Paralympic snowboarding team (Photo by Joe Kusumoto)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Megan Harmon suffered a motorcycle accident almost five years ago, costing her much of her left leg. It didn't, however, take her resolve or her athletic skills.

Harmon, a 25-year-old from Huntsville, has been chosen for the United States snowboarding team for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, from March 7-16. The nominations are subject to the approval of the USOC.

Harmon will compete in the snowboard cross competition for athletes with lower limb impairments. This is the first year the competition will be included in the Paralympic Winter Games.

According to the USOC, "Paralympic snowboarders compete in snowboard cross, an event where athletes race one-at-a-time down a course with features including turns, drops and berms. Each athlete completes three runs of the course with the combined time of their best two runs determining the final winner based on time."

Harmon, a graduate of UAH and an engineer by trade, lost her leg just above the knee when she was struck by a car while riding her motorcycle. Within two weeks she was walking with a prosethesis and was snowboarding in six months.

As she wrote on her blog, "I may be from Alabama, but snow is no stranger to me. My Dad first took me skiing when I was 7 as part of my Girls Scouts program, and I was hooked! After I lost my leg I thought that I wouldn't be able to do anything, but my Dad found out about the National Ability Center at Park in Park City, Utah. The NAC teaches people with disabilities how to ski and snowboard. Of course, I tried skiing, and honestly, it was terrifying. I switched to snowboarding, and it was exhilarating! For the first time since my accident, I could do something just as well as other people."

She moved to Utah to train in January 2012 and within four months had earned a third-place finish in the Canadian ParaSnowboarding World Cup.