Katie Uhlaender

Katie Uhlaender (born July 17, 1984) is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She has won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two gold (women's skeleton: FIBT World Championships 2012, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event: 2012), one silver (women's skeleton: 2008), and three bronze (women's skeleton: 2007, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event: 2008, 2009).

Katie Uhlaender
Uhlaender at Lake Placid in 2017
Personal information
Born (1984-07-17) July 17, 1984
Vail, Colorado, U.S.
ResidenceBreckenridge, Colorado, U.S.
Height5 ft 4 in (163 cm)
Weight145 lb (66 kg)
Sport
Country United States
SportSkeleton
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals6th (Torino 2006)
11th (Vancouver 2010)
4th (Sochi 2014)
13th (Pyeongchang 2018)
Medal record
Women's Skeleton
Representing  United States
World Championships
2012 Lake PlacidWomen
2012 Lake PlacidMixed team
2008 AltenbergWomen
2007 St. MoritzWomen
2008 AltenbergMixed team
2009 Lake PlacidMixed team

Career

Uhlaender won the women's Skeleton World Cup title twice (2006-7, 2007-8). She also finished sixth in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She earned a medical waiver to compete in the 2009-10 Skeleton World Cup season, following surgery in the wake of an April 2009 snowmobile accident where Uhelander shattered her kneecap. She then broke it again in August 2009 (having a total of four surgeries). She qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where she finished 11th. She then had another surgery (micro fracture labral repair by Dr Phillipon at Steadman Hawkins). On January 18, 2014, Uhlaender was named to the 2014 Olympic team.[1] She placed fourth at the 2014 Olympics, missing out on a medal by .04 seconds.[2]

Uhlaender has also participated in weightlifting competitions. The 2012 U.S. Olympic trials was just the third meet of her weightlifting career, but she did not make the team.[3] Discovering that her hip had ossified (there was no soft tissue) and her ankle had a hole in it, she took the 2014-15 season off from skeleton and gave up on weightlifting to get healthy. She participated in track cycling, attempting to be a starter in the women's team sprint. She posted her best one lap time of 20.7 at Senior Nationals 2015.

Uhlaender was named, along with Kendall Wesenberg, to represent the U.S. in women's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.[4]

In July 2018, Uhlaender testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission in Washington, DC on the subject of doping in sports. She was on a panel alongside Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Administration, Jim Walden, the attorney for Russian Whistle-blower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, and Yuliya Stepanova, a former Russian track star.[5] Uhlaender told the body that she felt she was twice unfairly denied an Olympic medal. The loss "erased the meaning of sport and the Olympics as I knew it."

Personal life

A native of Vail, Colorado, Uhlaender lives in nearby Breckenridge while training, but lives in McDonald, Kansas the rest of the year. She is the daughter of Major League Baseball outfielder (and former Cleveland Indians coach) Ted Uhlaender. In memory of her father, she wears his National League Championship ring from the 1972 Cincinnati Reds on a necklace.

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References
  1. U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (January 18, 2014). "2014 U.S. Olympic Skeleton Team Announced". TeamUSA.org. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  2. "Olympian Katie Uhlaender training Pyeongchang 2018". www.si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  3. Meyer, John (March 4, 2012). "Breckenridge's Uhlaender doesn't qualify for Olympics in weightlifting". Denver Post. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  4. "2018 U.S. Olympic Skeleton Team Announced" (Press release). United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. January 15, 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  5. Nuckols, Ben. "Hearing points to Vladimir Putin's role in Russian doping scandal". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
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