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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the world’s highest court to settle disputes related to international athletics, will hear an appeal by American skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender for a place at the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics.
Uhlaender is seeking qualification after she missed the chance to qualify when Team Canada pulled athletes from the North America Cup earlier this month, reducing the number of points the event could award. The points reduction made it impossible for Uhlaender to earn enough to qualify.
CAS will now review the case.
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“Ms. Uhlaender is asking CAS to determine whether a decision by the BCS to withdraw four of its athletes from the IBSF North American Cup race on January 11, 2026, violated the Olympic Movement Code for the Prevention of Manipulation of Competitions and that BCS coaches violated the IBSF Code of Conduct,” CAS said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The court hearing is set for Sunday morning.
An investigation by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) found that Team Canada deliberately manipulated the points at the competition in Lake Placid. However, the IBSF also did not audit any of the results or deliver any sanctions as a result.
US OLYMPIAN SPOKEN OUT AFTER TEAM CANADA WITHDRAWAL PREVENTS HER FROM QUALIFYING FOR MILAN-CORTINA
Katie Uhlaender of the United States reacts after the women’s skeleton heat 2 race during the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the Olympic Sliding Center in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 16, 2018. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)
“Although Canada subsequently attributed its decision to order four athletes not to slide in official training to concerns about the athletes involved, substantial evidence supports Ms. Uhlaender’s claim that the move was a deliberate effort by Canada to reduce the points available at the final Lake Placid NAC to protect its own Olympic quotas,” the IBSF said.
“While disqualifying an athlete and voiding results may have a side effect (other competitors moving up in official goals, for example), the Olympic Movement Code does not specify standards or means by which event records may be changed other than through sanctions,” the statement read.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) requesting that Uhlaender be allocated a place. Fifteen other countries have joined this petition.
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Katie Uhlaender (US) competes in the women’s skeleton event at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the Olympic Sliding Center in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 17, 2018. (James Lang/USA TODAY Sports)
Canadian national team skeleton coach Joe Cecchini has defended the decision to withdraw the athletes earlier this month.
“It’s all within the rules. There’s nothing wrong with those things. And people can be strategic in the races they enter. And she did it and other nations did it because you want to put your best foot forward,” Cecchini shared. CBC News. “This is a system error if anything. But we were within the rules.”
