Katie Uhlaender still doesn’t know what she’s going to do next winter, but she’s keeping her options open.
The skeleton racer from Breckenridge dominated the World Cup this season and won a bronze medal at the world championships, but she remains intrigued by halfpipe skiing. She will spend several weeks in New Zealand this summer, training with the Aspen Valley freestyle team to help her decide whether to switch sports.
“I’m young,” said Uhlaender, 22. “I can be old and do skeleton. I don’t know how long my body can take the beating of skiing. I’m just going to go for it during the summer and see how it goes.”
It won’t be an easy decision. Based on her performance this season, Uhlaender would be a medal favorite in skeleton at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. There might be more money and sponsorship potential in halfpipe, but it’s not part of the Olympic program.
“Winning the overall World Cup is something I definitely had on my list of things to do and I accomplished it,” Uhlaender said recently while on a backcountry ski trip in British Columbia. “I’ve been to the Olympics, I’m No. 1 in the world right now, if I walked away I could be happy. The only problem is, statistically speaking, I’d be walking away from an Olympic medal. That’s something weighing heavy over my head.”
That’s not the only weight she’s carrying. Her brother William was seriously injured after hitting a tree island at Copper Mountain in February and faces a long rehabilitation without health insurance.
“He double compound fractured his femur, shattered his patella and broke every bone in his face,” Uhlaender said. “He has 12 plates, 60 screws in his face, a steel rod through his thigh and a wire holding his patella (together). He’s also missing 12 teeth and can’t eat solid food for a year.”
William Uhlaender, 21, is a graduate of Summit High School. A fund to help defray his medical expenses has been set up at the Alpine Bank in Breckenridge.
Katie believes she has a lot of potential in halfpipe and she’s keen to explore it.
“I’d be starting from the bottom, but the women’s field is pretty open, and I think I could catch up with my work ethic,” Uhlaender said. “Even if I wanted to take a season off from skeleton, it could refresh my motivation to go out and win an Olympic medal (in skeleton).”
How U.S. athletes fared during 2006-07 season
Highlights from the 2006-07 season for Winter Olympic sports:
Biathlon – Tim Burke achieved the highest American World Cup season ranking (25th) and the highest World Cup point total.
Bobsled – Steve Holcomb won the World Cup two-man season title and was second in four-man. Shauna Rohbock was second in the World Cup and captured a bronze medal at the world championships.
Curling – U.S. women and men won bronze medals at the world championships.
Figure skating – Ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto took bronze at the world championships. Individual skaters finished out of the medals.
Luge – Ashley Hayden and the doubles team of Grimmette-Martin finished sixth in World Cup standings.
Skeleton – Breckenridge’s Katie Uhlaender dominated the World Cup and Zach Lund won the men’s title. U.S. sliders took four of a possible six medals at the world championships.
Skiing – Lindsey Kildow took two silver medals, Julia Mancuso another at alpine world championships. Bill Demong took silver in combined at nordic worlds. Mancuso finished third in overall World Cup standings, second in the downhill standings. Kildow finished third in downhill and super-G standings.
Speedskating – Shani Davis finished third at world sprint championships and broke his world record in the 1,500 meters. Short tracker Apolo Anton Ohno skipped most of the season but won a world title in the 1,500 and three bronze medals.
