An international sports court has ruled it cannot intervene in Katie Uhlaender’s challenge, effectively ending her bid to compete at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said the dispute fell outside the time period in which it can resolve Olympic qualification matters and left the official qualification results unchanged.
Uhlaender, a five-time Olympian, alleged that actions by Canada’s skeleton team at a World Cup race in Lake Placid on Jan. 11 prevented her from earning the points needed for a sixth Games. That race was her final opportunity to secure sufficient ranking points. She said she received a text from Canada’s skeleton head coach, Joe Cecchini, and later recorded a call in which he appears to describe a plan that would affect the points available.
Under the sport’s scoring rules, fewer starters in an event reduce the points awarded. Uhlaender contends that, shortly before the Lake Placid race, Cecchini withdrew four of Canada’s six female sledders, shrinking the field and sharply lowering the points she would gain despite a strong performance.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton declined requests to make Cecchini available and issued statements defending the coach’s choices as appropriate, transparent, and consistent with athlete welfare and sport integrity. Nevertheless, an investigation by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) concluded Cecchini became concerned Canada might lose an Olympic quota spot if non-Canadians performed well, and that he benched his athletes in a way that was intentional and aimed at reducing points available to other competitors.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee informed the International Olympic Committee that Uhlaender had been denied an Olympic berth because of unfair actions at Lake Placid. Despite the IBSF findings and the USOPC’s submission, no international sports body has imposed sanctions on Canada.
With CAS saying it lacked jurisdiction on procedural grounds, Uhlaender said she is disappointed that no action has been taken and is exploring her options, insisting she is ‘‘fighting for the right thing’’ and that the incident hurt a broad group of athletes. Practically speaking, her route to Milan-Cortina is now closed.