Olympic tensions flare as US skeleton star alleges Canadian coach rigged qualifying event | Winter Olympics

Sporting tensions between the United States and Canada have flared again, this time in skeleton racing ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics.

American Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of depriving her of a place at the Milan-Cortina Games by manipulating a qualifying event this weekend.

Uhlaender says Canada deliberately withdrew four of its six athletes from the North American Cup race in Lake Placid, New York. This meant the field was reduced to fewer than 21 athletes and fewer qualifying points were offered due to the lack of competition. Uhlaender believes the Canadian team did this to prevent American athletes from catching up with them in the Olympic qualifying rankings.

Uhlaender says Joe Cecchini, the head coach of the Canadian skeleton team, told him he was the one who came up with the plan.

“I cried when I learned that he had carried out this plan,” Uhlaender told DW. “I didn’t know if it hurt more that my 20-year-old friend just nailed my coffin, my Olympic dream is over. Or if my 20-year-old best friend did something so horrible that hurt so many people.”

Uhlaender says Cecchini told him Friday that it was not his job to “uplift” athletes from other countries and that his goal was to “eliminate any possibility” that Canadian Jane Channell would miss this year’s Olympics.

Uhlaender won the event in Lake Placid, but the reduction in points on offer means the 41-year-old will miss the Olympics. Although she won gold at the 2012 Skeleton World Championships, she never came close to an Olympic medal when she finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Coaches from the United States, Denmark, Israel and Malta, whose athletes were all affected by the Canadian withdrawals, wrote to the IOC to express their “serious concerns” about the qualification process.

In a statement, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton defended the withdrawals, saying some of the athletes removed from competition had already raced several times in the past week. He said the decision was “appropriate, transparent and aligned with both the welfare of the athletes and the integrity of the sport”.

Uhlaender disagrees. “[Cecchini] I didn’t have to do that. He did it because he could. And it wasn’t to protect his athletes; it was to manipulate the system,” she told DW. “He waited until everyone was registered and gave the illusion that Canadians were going to compete. He wanted to make sure we couldn’t score all the points.

This outbreak comes after several heated sporting clashes between Canada and the United States, at a time when Donald Trump threatened to make his neighbor a “51st state” and increased customs duties on Canadian products. During last year’s 4 Nations showdown, Canadian ice hockey fans booed the U.S. 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, 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.