Canada cleared of US allegations they rigged skeleton qualifying for Winter Olympics | Winter Olympics
Canada’s skeleton team has been cleared of allegations it rigged a Winter Olympics qualifying event and denied rival athletes the opportunity to qualify for next month’s Games.
American Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of deliberately removing four of its six athletes from a race in Lake Placid, New York, last weekend to make it harder for athletes from other countries to qualify. The reduced field meant fewer qualifying points available and Uhlaender, who won the event, did not secure his place at this year’s Games, which will take place in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Uhlaender says Joe Cecchini, the head coach of the Canadian skeleton team, told him he was the one who came up with the plan.
However, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said it would not take any action after investigating the allegations.
“Current IBSF rules allow national federations to withdraw athletes from competition at any time,” the IBSF said in a statement on Thursday. “The IIU rejected the complaints as the current rules and regulations of the IBSF did not justify a violation of the international rules, the code of conduct and respectively the code of ethics.”
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Norwegian ski jumping coaches hit with 18-month ban for suit tampering
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Three officials from the Norwegian men’s ski jumping team have been suspended for 18 months and fined by the FIS Ethics Committee (FEC) for tampering with competition suits at last year’s Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim.
The affair tarnished Norway’s hosting of the Nordic World Ski Championships last March and the country’s broader reputation for fair play.
Head coach Magnus Brevik, former assistant coach Thomas Lobben and suit technician Adrian Livelten were sanctioned after an investigation into equipment tampering during the men’s large hill event in March 2025.
Controversy erupted after Norwegian Olympic champions Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, as well as the coaching team, were accused of using modified suits. Lindvik initially finished second but was stripped of his silver medal after being disqualified, while Forfang, who placed fourth, was also disqualified after an equipment inspection.
The Norwegian Ski Federation admitted after the competition that the team had tampered with the suits, but said the ski jumpers were not responsible for the violations. The organizers found nothing abnormal during the first check, but after the race they discovered different materials in the seams. Forfang and Lindvik accepted a three-month suspension in August and are back in competition ahead of the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.
In a statement, the FIS indicated that Brevik, Lobben and Livelten would be ineligible for a period of “18 months, starting on the date of the decision (January 8, 2026), less the period of provisional suspension already served since March 12, 2025”.
The governing body added that they would each have to contribute 5,000 Swiss francs (£4,650, $6,246) towards the costs of the proceedings and investigation.
In a statement to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the trio’s lawyers said the decision was “disproportionately strict.”
“The reasons for the judgment expressly state that similar rule violations have not been punished before – or only given a warning – and that this case is being used as an example to draw a new and stricter line in international ski jumping,” they added. AP and Reuters
Coaches from the United States, 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 removed from competition had already raced several times last week and needed to rest. He said the decision was “appropriate, transparent and aligned with both the welfare of the athletes and the integrity of the sport”.
Uhlaender, 41, said the 2026 Olympics would be his last. She can still qualify for next month’s Games, but the U.S. spots will likely go to Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro. Although Uhlaender 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.
This incident 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.” In last season’s World Series, 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.
