U.S. skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender’s final opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games may have slipped away on Monday, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport stated it did not have the authority to alter the outcome of a race that could have secured her a spot in the Milano Cortina Games.
Uhlaender, a five-time Olympian, had sought CAS’s intervention to investigate whether the Canadian skeleton coach influenced a race result by withdrawing four competitors from a North American Cup event in Lake Placid, NY, on January 11. The reduction in participating racers in that event resulted in fewer ranking points available, causing Uhlaender to miss out on Olympic qualification.
Despite Uhlaender’s appeal to CAS, both the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and the International Olympic Committee had already confirmed that no regulations were violated. Consequently, CAS’s special division established for the Milano-Cortina Winter Games only handles disputes arising within 10 days of the Olympics’ commencement, which means from January 27 onwards. Since the race in question occurred on January 11 and the IBSF’s appeal tribunal had made a ruling on January 23, CAS deemed Uhlaender’s application as falling outside its jurisdiction.
Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro have been designated to represent the U.S. in the women’s skeleton event at the Olympics.
In a similar decision, CAS rejected an appeal by Ireland’s luge team against the International Luge Federation, citing the same timeframe limitation around the games.
Ireland contended that Elsa Desmond, a 2022 Olympian, was unfairly deprived of a qualifying slot for the 2026 OWG due to the improper allocation of remaining qualification spots to athletes with Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) status. It was also argued that the two Russian sliders granted AIN status did not meet all the requirements for an Olympic berth.
The IOC allocated 106 spots for luge athletes in these games across all disciplines. While all 106 spots have been filled, only 105 athletes have taken them up. Austrian slider Wolfgang Kindl qualified in both men’s singles and men’s doubles, leading to debates about whether this should have opened the way for a 106th athlete.
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