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Canadian side pushes back on U.S. claim it rigged a skeleton qualifier to protect Olympic spots
The Canadian federation for the sport of skeleton is defending a decision to withdraw athletes from an international event on Sunday, a move a former U.S. Olympic athlete and two-time world champion alleges torpedoed her chance of attending a sixth Games.
According to a statement from Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, four of the program’s “younger athletes” were removed from a North American Cup race in Lake Placid, N.Y., an event on the lower-tier developmental circuit’s calendar where competitors from any nation can earn points to qualify for the upcoming Milan Cortina Games in Italy.
BCS said the racers, “relatively new to the sport,” had already “experienced a particularly challenging week on the track,” and it was decided, in consultation with two International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (ISBF) officials, that it was in the best interest of the athlete and the program to remove them from the third race of the week.
In interviews with the London Times and DW , five-time U.S. Olympian Katie Uhlaender alleges that Canadian coach Joe Cecchini, whom she identified as “a friend of 20 years,” revealed his plan to her in a courtesy phone call two days before. He allegedly said his goal was to “eliminate any possibilities” of another senior Canadian competitor missing the Olympics — identified by DW as two-time Canadian Olympian Jane Channell — by protecting the national team’s ISBF ranking.
“He did not have to do that. He did it because he could. And it wasn’t to protect his athletes; it was to manipulate the system,” said Uhlaender, who has never medalled at previous Olympics. “He waited until after everyone was registered and gave the illusion that the Canadians were going to be competing. He wanted to make sure that we could not get full points.”
National Post has contacted Uhlaender for comment.
Under its rules , qualification is calculated using points earned at sanctioned events, where the number of athletes who start a race directly determines how many points can be awarded. The qualification window closes next Sunday, drastically reducing a given athlete’s ability to earn required points.
As it happens, Uhlaender would win gold in Sunday’s race, but a field of 21 competitors left her short on points. The 41-year-old is ranked 20th globally, but third among U.S. sliders, leaving her outside of the Olympic picture. (The top-ranked Canadian sliders are 21-year-old Hallie Clarke, who is 12th overall, and Channell, currently ranked 26th and clinging to an Olympic berth heading into this weekend’s final World Cup event before the Olympics.)
“I hadn’t let go of the dream yet,” Uhlaender told the Times. “I don’t get to have a shot now. It was over before I had a chance.”
Uhlaender also claims that Cecchini, who competed for Italy at the 2018 Games, said it wasn’t his responsibility to “uplift” the competition.
DW, meanwhile, obtained an email reported sent by Cecchini to Canadian team members that framed the decision as being “in the best interests of the national team,” aimed at understanding the qualification points scenarios and managing confirmed start numbers.
In emails to National Post, the ISBF said it would reserve comment while its integrity unit investigates the incident, while the U.S. federation said it will await that decision.
In its statement, BCS said it knows the athletes’ removal had an impact, but “it is well understood within the sport that development circuits do not carry fixed points.”
“The National Skeleton Program has always treated the development circuit as exactly that — a developmental environment — not a pathway for Olympic qualification.”
“BCS remains confident that its actions were appropriate, transparent, and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport.”
The federation said Uhlaender’s allegation that the young Canadians wanted to race and were scared to tell Cecchini “could not be further from the truth.”
According to the Times, U.S. head coach Andrew Blasser and three other national coaches sent the International Olympic Committee athletes’ commission a formal complaint warning of what they called potential “sport manipulation and unethical conduct.”
It alleges that the Canadian athletes had been registered and reported to the track that day only to be told they were being withdrawn. The coaches argued that the late exits appeared designed to push the field below the threshold for full participation points, thereby putting athletes from multiple countries at a disadvantage.
DW later identified the others as coaches for Denmark, Israel and Malta.
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