MILAN, Jan 30 (Reuters) – U.S. skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to review Canada’s decision to withdraw four athletes from an event earlier this month that ended her Winter Olympics qualifying hopes, CAS said on Friday.
Due to the Canadian withdrawals from the races in Lake Placid, the field dropped to a size that reduced the number of ranking points available, ending two-time world champion Uhlaender’s qualification chances for the Milano Cortina Olympics in Italy, starting on February 6.
While the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) federation was cleared of any wrongdoing two weeks ago by the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) after an investigation, Uhlaender is hoping CAS will rule in her favour in a last-gasp attempt to make the Olympics.
“Ms Uhlaender requests that CAS determine whether a decision by BCS to withdraw four of its athletes from the 11 January 2026 IBSF North American Cup Race was in violation of the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions, and that BCS coaches violated the IBSF Code of Conduct,” CAS said in a statement.
Uhlaender is also requesting full ranking points from that race.
The 41-year-old American, a double world champion with an Olympic best of fourth in 2014, alleged that the BCS “manipulated” the race, impacting Olympic and World Cup qualification points for athletes from more than five nations.
BCS had said at the time it withdrew the athletes out of safety concerns and recognised the move had an unintended impact on the size of the field. The Canadian withdrawals also impacted Denmark, Israel and Malta.
(Reporting by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Toby Davis)
