Canada cleared of US allegations they rigged skeleton qualifying for Winter Olympics

Canada’s skeleton team have been cleared of allegations they rigged a qualifying event for the Winter Olympics and denied rival athletes from qualifying for next month’s Games.

USA’s Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of deliberately pulling four of its six athletes from a race in Lake Placid, New York, last weekend in order to make it harder for athletes from other countries to qualify. The reduced field meant fewer qualifying points were available and Uhlaender, who won the event, missed out on a place at this year’s Games, which will take place in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Uhlaender claims Joe Cecchini, the head coach of Canada’s skeleton team, told her he had come up with the scheme.

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However, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said it would take no action after investigating the allegations.

“The current IBSF Rules allow National Federations to withdraw athletes from competition at any time,” IBSF said in a statement on Thursday. “The IIU dismissed the complaints as the current IBSF Rules and Regulations did not give grounds for a breach of the International Rules, the Code of Conduct, and respectively the Code of Ethics.”

Coaches from the US, Denmark, Israel and Malta, whose athletes were all affected by the Canadian withdrawals, had expressed “serious concerns” about the qualification process.

However, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton defended the withdrawals, saying some of the athletes who were pulled from competition had already raced several times last week and needed to rest. It said the decision was “appropriate, transparent and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport.”

Uhlaender, who will be 45 when the 2030 Winter Olympics take place, is unlikely to compete at a sixth Games. Although she won gold at the 2012 skeleton world championships, the closest she has come to an Olympic medal was when she finished fourth at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The incident comes after a number of heated sporting clashes between Canada and the US at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to make his neighbor a “51st state” and has raised tariffs on Canadian goods. During last year’s 4 Nations Face-off, Canadian ice hockey fans booed the US national anthem and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.” Last season’s World Series saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series, although most of the tension was due to the action on the field.