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On Jan. 11, Katie Uhlaender of the United States and 22 other women’s skeleton athletes were in Lake Placid, New York, preparing for a race that, for some, would be their last reasonable chance to earn points toward qualifying for the Winter Olympics. Just before the race began, though, a controversial decision undercut that prospect.At the last minute, Team Canada pulled its four sliders from the event, citing an unusually aggressive schedule — for the athletes in Lake Placid, it was their third race in six days — and saying it was “not in their best interests” to compete.
Some of the other competitors, however, saw it as subterfuge. The drop from 23 to 19 sliders in the race reduced the number of points awarded to each finisher by 25 percent, under rules from the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF). That helped Canada, which was at risk of losing one of its two Olympic sleds — athletes who were already poised to qualify and not racing in Lake Placid. By pulling its Lake Placid participants, Canada made it more difficult for racers from other countries to catch up in the all-important points standings.
Uhlaender and others complained. Canada denied the accusations of manipulation and was later cleared of wrongdoing by an IBSF panel. The 25 percent reduction in points held through, delivering a harsh blow for those on the wrong side of the Olympic qualification bubble.
For the 41-year-old Uhlaender, who was trying for her sixth Olympics, the move ultimately cost her a spot in the Milan-Cortina Games, even though she won all three races in Lake Placid.
The maneuvering, with implications for several athletes in multiple countries, has touched off a controversy that has roiled the sport. It has sparked arguments about the merits of skeleton’s qualification system and the outsized impact a single coach’s decision can have on the careers and Olympic hopes of athletes. Uhlaender and others are also upset about how the federation handled their complaints.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say I want to go to the Olympics,” Uhlaender said. “But what’s more important is that I am a five-time Olympian competing with young women at different stages in their career that are going to continue, and I don’t want to see this behavior supported by our international federation. This is not the integrity of sport.”
The Lake Placid race was part of skeleton’s North American Cup (NAC), a second-tier continental circuit below the World Cup level. Despite the lower status, these races can be an important pathway for Olympic qualification, which is based on world ranking points across all circuits. Finishing in the top positions in second-tier races is generally worth more points than low-end finishes in the World Cup.
It’s common for these races to feature reduced fields. The past two weekends in Yanqing, China, for instance, a series of Asian Cup races attracted just seven sliders for each, bringing an even more drastic points reduction, roughly 70 percent. The first four races of the NAC season, in November, had fewer than 21 sliders as well.
The timing and circumstances, though, of the Lake Placid incident are what brought accusations of manipulation. Canada was in a precarious spot for their Olympic quota in women’s singles, in danger of dropping from two sleds to one. South Korea, among the closest nations to taking their second spot, had two sleds in the Lake Placid race, though it was a long shot that they could get enough points to overtake Canada. The Canadians ended up as the lowest-ranked team to qualify two sleds for the Milan-Cortina Games.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS), the national governing body, denied the manipulation charges, and the IBSF’s integrity unit cleared them in part because of a clause in the IBSF code of conduct that allows withdrawals at any time.
The integrity unit issued a mild reminder to the Canadian team in its ruling: “It is expected that all parties concerned should also act within the spirit of the Code.”
In a statement, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton said it was “committed to competing with honesty, transparency, and respect for the rules and standards that govern our sports.” The governing body added: “We take great pride in achieving results through preparation, dedication, and fair competition, and remain focused on representing Canada with integrity.”
BCS declined further comment for this story and did not make the coach who pulled the racers, Joe Cecchini, available for an interview. The IBSF referred to its published ruling when asked for a statement.
The decision impacted several countries. Denmark, Colombia, Finland, the Virgin Islands and Malta all had competitors in the Lake Placid race with a shot at snagging the final Olympic quota spot.
For Uhlaender, she was competing with teammates Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro, both of whom race on the World Cup circuit, for the two U.S. Olympic quota spots in women’s singles. She went to Lake Placid thinking the full points would be available and says Cecchini had assured her his athletes would compete.
Curtis and Ro are, based on recent form, the Americans’ best hopes at a medal in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, where the Olympic competition will take place next month. Ro was the silver medalist at last year’s world championships, and each of them recorded a second-place finish against top competition on the World Cup circuit this season.
Uhlaender took a different approach because she was not part of the U.S. World Cup team. She instead started accruing points on the continental circuits, taking the second-tier path out of necessity.
“I figured, I’m your backup,” Uhlaender said. If Curtis or Ro struggled or were injured, she wanted to be next in line.
Sure enough, Curtis and Ro had uneven starts to the season, while Uhlaender had four top-five finishes in the Asian Cup. With 414 points from those races, she was the U.S. No. 1 in the rankings as of early January.
With the pressure on, Curtis and Ro both earned enough points in their next two races to pull ahead of Uhlaender.
Uhlaender then won all three races in Lake Placid. Before the withdrawals, she had expected 120 points in the final race; instead, she earned just 90.
On Friday, after one more World Cup race for Curtis and Ro, the final results came in — Uhlaender had missed the U.S. team by just 18 points. The reduction of points in Lake Placid was the difference.
The IBSF resolution isn’t satisfactory for Uhlaender and others contacted by The Athletic, who all considered Canada’s decision unsportsmanlike, even if technically legal under the rules.
“I never saw something like it in my whole career,” said one active skeleton athlete, speaking on condition of anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive topic. “I think it’s just a crazy thing that shouldn’t happen. Sport has to be fair.”
Denmark’s national team was also critical of Canada’s decision and the IBSF’s lack of action. Their top women’s competitor, Nanna Vestergaard Johansen, was in that Lake Placid race and clinging to the final Olympic qualification spot. She ultimately got it, but barely — she qualified by a single point, thanks in part to her closest competitor posting one of her worst finishes of the year in Friday’s final World Cup race before the cutoff.
On Sunday, the Danish team was still reeling from a roller coaster week.
“Emotionally, to cope with the qualification, which was nothing short of a miracle, but needed another athlete in the field driving really badly on Friday, is not easy,” Tom Johansen, Denmark’s head of discipline for skeleton and Nanna’s father, said in an email to The Athletic.
“… As a family, we disagree heavily with the dismissal of the formal claim,” he continued. “Honestly, it seems to me, that the IBSF does not understand the reality of the affected sliders.”
Uhlaender, in a statement texted to The Athletic, called the integrity unit’s decision “not credible” and said she was not contacted during the review process despite going public about a phone call with Cecchini, the Canadian coach, in which she says he told her that he pulled his sliders to protect the country’s Olympic quota. The IBSF has not responded to a question about Uhlaender’s involvement in the review.
Uhlaender said she and other impacted athletes are now taking the matter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“As a result of the IBSF’s inaction, I have now formally submitted all evidence to the IOC Integrity Unit,” Uhlaender said in the statement. “With a new IOC President, Kirsty Coventry, and a stated commitment to putting athletes first, I hope these principles are reflected not only in words but in action.”
The situation has also prompted debate about the merits of the approach of gathering points on second-tier circuits to earn an Olympic berth over those competing against the sport’s top athletes. The strategy is common in skeleton for those on the bubble; American Dan Barefoot, for instance, qualified for next month’s Games after dropping down from the World Cup and winning the three men’s NAC races in Lake Placid. The quirk is amplified by the Olympic qualification system, which limits quota spots to get a wider variety of countries into the Games.
For those lower down the rankings, the Olympics aren’t always the goal. Several nations make decisions on the financial support of sliders based on performance. Though the Olympic qualification period has ended, the season is not over; those sliders still have a chance to earn more points. The Lake Placid incident, though, could still have implications for their futures.
The second-tier path to reaching the sport’s biggest and most visible event and the ability for a single national team to manipulate the points structure with a decision like the one Canada made, maliciously or not, creates a system ripe for controversy. Asked whether they would reconsider this system, the IBSF pointed to its statement on the integrity unit’s ruling.
“The IBSF will task its Sport Committee to review this incident that occurred at the NAC in Lake Placid during the Sport Committee meeting in spring and possibly suggest adjustments to the Rules,” it reads.
For Uhlaender, whose Olympic career is now likely over, she is hoping that escalating this incident to the IOC will help bring change for those who will continue to slide, their fortunes hinging on a few points earned or lost here and there.
“Together with other affected athletes, I am asking for something simple and fundamental: that the integrity of sport and the Olympic spirit be upheld,” her statement read, “not only for those of us competing today, but for the next generation of athletes who deserve to believe that fair play, honesty, and accountability still matter in Olympic sport.”
Added Tom Johansen, Denmark’s team head: “The only thing we as a family can do right now not to get insane, is to help Katie (Uhlaender) and others bring all details to this matter to daylight, so the community itself can make their ruling.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Olympics, Global Sports, Women's Olympics
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