U.S. asks for extra Olympic quota spot for Katie Uhlaender in skeleton controversy

The United States has asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for an extra quota spot in women’s skeleton for next month’s Winter Olympics due to a controversial incident that prevented one of its athletes, Katie Uhlaender, from qualifying for the Games.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) sent a letter to the IOC on Friday, citing support from several other national federations, asking president Kirsty Coventry and the executive board to intervene and award an additional spot for Uhlaender, whose hopes to qualify for her sixth Olympics were dashed this month after a heavily scrutinized decision by a Canadian coach.

In the letter, Rocky Harris, the USOPC’s chief of sport and athlete services, urges the IOC to “rectify the unfair actions” at a recent race in Lake Placid, N.Y. On Jan. 11, Uhlaender and 22 other sliders were preparing for a race in the North American Cup — a second-tier circuit, below the World Cup. At the last minute, the Canadian team pulled its four athletes from the race, dropping the total competitors to 19. Races with fewer than 21 sliders bring a 25 percent reduction in points available to each finisher, per International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) rules.

With just a week to go before the Olympic qualification window closed, it was an important — and, in some cases, final — opportunity to earn points for many in the field. Uhlaender and others expected the full points to be available. Canada was also clinging to its two-sled Olympic quota, and the results of the Lake Placid race could have impacted that.

The late decision and the circumstances led multiple nations to accuse Canada of manipulating the competition. Uhlaender was the most directly affected. She won the race, but received only 90 points instead of the usual 120, then ended up 18 points shy of qualifying for the U.S. team. Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro, both of whom compete on the World Cup circuit, got the two American slots.

“These actions circumvented the Olympic qualification principles, undermined fair competition, and ultimately deprived Ms. Uhlaender of the opportunity to compete” in the Olympics, Harris wrote.

Canada denied the manipulation charges and was cleared by an IBSF integrity panel, but the resolution didn’t satisfy the affected sliders. Uhlaender said she wasn’t contacted for the IBSF investigation, despite going public about a phone call with a Canadian coach, in which Uhlaender says the coach told her that he pulled his sliders to protect the country’s Olympic quota.

In a statement Saturday, Uhlaender said she is preparing to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the IOC does not grant the extra quota spot.

“Had this race not been manipulated, I would be preparing to represent the United States of America and make history as the first woman to compete in six Olympic Winter Games for our country,” the statement read. “Instead, I am now focused on legally challenging what I believe to be a fundamentally flawed investigation and decision by the IBSF in a final attempt to earn my place.”

In the wake of the incident, Uhlaender has received backing from other national federations. The head of Denmark’s skeleton team — which had its Olympic quota spot put in jeopardy in the Lake Placid situation — told The Athletic in an email that they would help Uhlaender “bring all details to this matter to daylight.” Harris’ letter to the IOC referred to attached letters of support from the federations of Belgium, South Korea, the Virgin Islands, Malta, Israel and Denmark.

“As demonstrated by the overwhelming support Ms. Uhlaender has received … it is undeniable that (she) deserves to go to the Olympic Games,” Harris argued.

The situation has touched off debate about the sport’s Olympic qualification and points systems. World Cup points count the same in the rankings as points earned in the continental circuits, and finishing near the top in second-tier races brings a bigger haul than struggling in the 20s or 30s in the World Cup. This leads some athletes to drop down from the World Cup level, especially in Olympic years, seeing the continental circuits as a better pathway to secure a spot in the 25-sled field.

Others, like Uhlaender, compete in the lower circuits because they didn’t make their country’s World Cup team. In seven races in the North American and Asian Cups this season, she finished in the top five in every race and won four times. It was enough to get Uhlaender to 19th in the world rankings.

Only one competitor ranked higher than her will miss the Games — Corinna Leipold is ranked 12th but has the misfortune of being the fourth-ranked German; the two best nations are awarded three sleds each. Eight sliders ranked lower than Leipold and Uhlaender will compete in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The rankings quirks and the ability for a single coach to impact them, maliciously or not, create a system primed for controversy. The IBSF has said it will review its rules this spring.

The IOC has awarded extra quota spots due to qualification issues in the past. Before the 2022 Beijing Olympics, it gave four extra slots in Alpine skiing after some qualification events in that sport came under scrutiny. On Thursday, the IOC declined to award an extra quota spot in luge after an Austrian slider qualified in both men’s singles and doubles, leaving the total number of athletes at 105 instead of the planned 106.

Uhlaender, 41, has competed in every Olympics since 2006 in Turin, Italy, finishing as high as fourth in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. She’s a two-time World Cup season champion and won gold at the world championships in 2012.

The 2026 Olympics open Feb. 6. The women’s skeleton competition is Feb. 13-14.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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