Katie Uhlaender: Winter Olympics skeleton controversy rolls on as US athlete looks to JD Vance for help

Skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender says she should have been going to the 2026 Olympics in Italy next month. As a veteran of five Winter Games from 2006 to 2022, sliding in Turin, Vancouver, Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing, the American would have made history by competing in a sixth.

What denied her entry to the Milan-Cortina Olympics was her final qualification event in the North American Cup earlier this month at Lake Placid, where several Canadian competitors were withdrawn at the last minute. Despite Uhlaender winning the race, the sudden reduction in the number of athletes competing had reduced the amount of qualification points available, leaving her just short.

Uhlaender accused the Canadian team and its coach, Joe Cecchini, of intentionally withdrawing the athletes, deliberately manipulating the field to benefit one of their own sliders’ bids for qualification.

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton denied anything untoward, telling CNN Sports in a statement, “BCS remains confident that its actions were appropriate, transparent, and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport.” Cecchini didn’t respond to CNN Sports’ request for comment.

Skeleton’s governing body also dismissed Uhlaender’s complaint, but she wasn’t the only athlete to have been negatively impacted at Lake Placid and, since then, an increasing number of national teams have rallied behind her.

“The only thing that brings me warmth in my heart, and hope – and lit a fire under my butt that you could equate to the Olympic flame – is that my community is coming together,” Uhlaender told CNN Sports. “We’re trying to be heard.”

The Lake Placid incident has thrown skeleton into turmoil. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) quickly dismissed Uhlaender’s complaints after its Interim Integrity Unit ruled that Cecchini had not breached its rules, code of conduct or code of ethics. Uhlaender accuses the governing body of a flawed investigation and that evidence or testimony from the athletes competing in Lake Placid was never considered.

“It saddens me that they didn’t respond to my email with the evidence,” Uhlaender explained. “They didn’t reach out to any of the affected parties, not even afterwards, to make sure anyone was okay, and it makes the community feel isolated from the governance. I think this is an opportunity for us to all come together.”

The day after the judgment was posted, Elisabeth Vathje, Executive Committee Member and Co-Chairperson of the Athlete Council within IBSF, resigned her position over what she described in an Instagram post as “a misalignment of values.”

Citing the “reputational harm” to their sport, at least a dozen competing nations have thrown their weight behind Uhlaender, and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has asked the International Olympic Committee’s new president Kirsty Coventry and the IBSF to grant Uhlaender a wild card place at the Olympics. At stake, they argue, are the values upon which the Olympic movement was founded.

In the letter seen by CNN Sports, Rocky Harris, USOPC’s Chief of Sport and Athlete Services, wrote, “‘Ms. Uhlaender is the epitome of what it means to be an Olympian and truly embodies the Olympic spirit. … Allowing her to compete in Milano Cortina will deter others from engaging in unsporting conduct and ensure fair competition.”

In support of their athlete, USA Bobsled Skeleton made a similar plea. “Granting Katie Uhlaender the opportunity to compete in Milano Cortina,” wrote CEO Aron McGuire, “would send a powerful message that dedication, character, and lifelong commitment to the values of the Games matter.”

If she had come up short in Lake Placid, Uhlaender says she would have retired immediately. She’s been recovering from hip surgery and limping through the season, almost quitting after the World Championships last March. She says that many of her fellow athletes who were there, including Janine Flock and Kim Bos, told her to keep going. She’s still training now, hoping in the next two weeks to somehow find a pathway to the Games, but she insists that she’s motivated by more than just personal gain.

“It was never about getting into the Olympics, it was about standing up for the integrity of the sport,” she said. “I have to emphasize that when I see the younger generation witnessing competition manipulation like some are trying to justify it, ‘through the rules,’ it concerns me because, if we didn’t speak out and show that people care about the integrity of the sport and ethics, they might just fall in line and behave that way.

“I don’t want Canada to have a bad reputation; I’m hoping that we don’t treat any (athlete) in this situation like an enemy. We treat them like a part of our community and try to show them that the better way forward is sticking together and being transparent and honest.”

Uhlaender is now hoping US Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the nation’s delegation to Milan-Cortina, will take her case to the International Olympic Committee and persuade the organization of its merits.

She says she feels it’s important the US sets an example, particularly given that her country will host the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA and the 2029 World Championships and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

It’s not lost on Uhlaender that one of the first nations to support her cause was Denmark, whose government is currently at loggerheads with the US over the fate of Greenland.

“At moments such as this, the Olympic Movement has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to reaffirm its core values,” wrote Carsten P. Wulf, President of Bob & Skeleton Denmark to the IOC. “Our sport needs this. Our athletes want this. And the Olympic Movement would be strengthened by it.”

“I think that this is a great opportunity to show that we really do care about one another more than is portrayed in politics because we’re all human,” Uhlaender said. “If people don’t fight to uphold those values and keep them alive, then politics will eat us up. We want to support the ethics and integrity of sport; sometimes, the good guys can win.”