BEIJING, China — Colorado native Katie Uhlaender – who broke U.S. records with her fifth Winter Olympics appearance in Beijing – finished off the podium in women's skeleton on Saturday.
Uhlaender, 37, of Breckenridge, scored a total of 4:09.23 over four runs to finish in sixth. The gold medal went to Hannah Neise of Germany, followed by Jaclyn Narracott of Australia with silver and Kimberley Bos of Netherlands with bronze.
A strong fourth run of 1:02.21 – her best of this Olympics – briefly made Uhlaender the slider to beat, until Canada's Mirela Rahneva bumped her from the top of the leaderboard.
She started her Olympics journey in 2006 in Torino, and she has represented the United States in skeleton at every Winter Olympics since.
She's one of four Team USA members in Beijing who qualified for their fifth Olympics, an exclusive group that also includes snowboarders Shaun White and Lindsey Jacobellis and curler John Shuster.
Other titles that she earned with this year’s Olympics: She tied the record for the U.S. woman with the most Olympic appearances and was the only U.S. woman in any sliding sport to compete at five Games.
Her best Olympic finish was fourth in Sochi in 2014. She’s also a World Championships gold medalist, in 2012 at Lake Placid.
Uhlaender started competing in skeleton in 2004 and also loves to ski, snowboard and kite board. After her sliding career, she wants to become a producer or writer, according to her Team USA biography.
The United States sent its smallest skeleton team since the sport was re-introduced in 2002. In addition to Uhlaender, Kelly Curtis and Andrew Blaser will slide for the United States.
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