Katie Uhlaender knew her mom, Karen, was here in South Korea, but that was it. Karen Uhlaender had first reached out to the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation in advance of the Winter Games, saying she’d like to be here, and to end the falling-out that birthed a four-year silence between mother and daughter.
That’s probably not a great idea, the Federation said. But Karen Uhlaender was here anyway, as Katie was aware, but she was supposed to show up at Saturday’s final, not Friday’s preliminary heats.
Yet there she was.
Katie Uhlaender, who was born in Vail and now lives in Breckenridge, is the first American to be a four-timer in Skeleton.
She came to PyeongChang still searching for her first medal.
Uhlaender finished fourth at the Sochi Games four years ago. The bronze medalist from that competition, Russia's Elena Nikitina, had her medal stripped and her eligibility for future Olympics revoked because of doping violations.
What was Nikitina's medal was expected to be reallocated to Uhlaender, but following a December appeal by Nikitina and 27 other athletes, the medal was reinstated to the Russian athlete.
The 2018 games were supposed to her last.
But then as Uhlaender finished her first two runs, she looked to her coach and saw her mom, who had ducked under the watchful eyes of the security team to stand backstage among Team USA personnel.
“It felt like I fell through the floor,” Uhlaender told the Team USA publication. “I’m not going to lie. I almost started crying. I blew her a kiss.”
Reunited, the two hugged. Thanks for being here, Uhlaender said. Then, somehow, she walked away.
“I was kind of busy,” she said to Team USA. “I kind of wish she had waited.” According to Team USA, she also declined to say what caused the rift.
Uhlaender ended up placing 13th, a result she was naturally disappointed with.
“I put everything I had into it so I expected a better result,” she said. “I just wanted to walk away feeling as if I maximized my potential."
After all, she has been through a lot in the last few years.
“In the last year I almost died in November,” she said. “I came back two weeks out of the hospital; and then finished the season to find my best friend passed away. Then I pulled my hamstring."
In late 2016, Uhlaender contracted an autoimmune disease, even reaching a point where she laid in her hospital bed and accepted two things: one, that she was going to die, and two, that she had lived a good life — that she was ready.
She went broke getting to PyeongChang, spending her own money to buy her skeleton sled, her speed suit and her helmet, and had to pay for her own training. A torn hamstring suffered in late 2017 complicated matters further.
And the toughest blow: In May, Uhlaender went to her close friend Steve Holcomb’s room in Lake Placid, N.Y., sensing that something was amiss after not hearing from Holcomb for days, and found Holcomb dead on his bed. A toxicology report issued by USA Bobsled and Skeleton found overdosed on a combination of sleeping pills and alcohol.
The “rollercoaster” Olympic experience in PyeongChang continued with the emotions of suddenly having her mom back in her life.
“I just saw nothing but love,” Uhlaender said to Team USA. “It was just a lot to take in in that moment.”
And maybe that means more than the less-than-ideal finish.
“I couldn’t be more grateful for her to come all the way here from Colorado to give me the support. There’s so many good things coming out of the race,” Uhlaender told Team USA.
What’s next remains unknown. Her mom is back in her life. She doesn’t have a job, she thinks, after taking time away from a position with a functional neurology company. It’s difficult to see Uhlaender returning to the Winter Games four years from now, when Beijing plays host, due to both her age — she’d be 37 at the 2022 Games — and the money, time and energy needed to make another Olympic run.
“I don’t call it a sacrifice. It’s a privilege and a choice to represent my country,” she said, but added, “I don’t know how to do it again for four years.”
