Canada's Hallie Clarke in action during women's skeleton Heat 1 on the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun track in Switzerland on Jan. 9.Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Sliding world champion Hallie Clarke and veteran Jane Channell are happy to talk about the coming Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. They aren’t talking about the controversy that’s surrounded their program of late.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton announced the Olympic team on Wednesday. Both Clarke and Channell said they would not comment on the competition manipulation accusations levied against Canadian skeleton coach Joe Cecchini that made recent waves in the international sliding community.
Asked Wednesday for their comments on that situation, Channell and Clarke each said they stand behind their national sport organization but as a team, they decided they would not speak about that topic until after the Olympics.
Last week, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation dismissed complaints that Cecchini engaged in competition manipulation at a North American Cup race in Lake Placid on Jan. 11
American slider Katie Uhlaender complained that a decision by Cecchini to pull four Canadian development team athletes from a women’s skeleton race in the lower-tier North American Cup was unfair because it reduced the total standings points available and lessened her chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
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Uhlaender alleged that BCS sidelined those four athletes to protect its own standings in the international women’s skeleton rankings and therefore help Canada’s chances of securing it second spot in the women’s Olympic field. Denmark’s bobsleigh and skeleton federation also complained about the decision.
BCS acknowledged that the move impacted the number of ranking points available in the race, but said the decision was made after consulting the IBSF.
It prompted an investigation by the IBSF’s integrity unit, who found that Canada did not break any rules. Still, in its statement, the integrity unit reminded the Canadian coach to “act within the spirit of the code, whose aim is to promote fair play and ethical conduct at all times.”
North Vancouver’s Channell will make her third straight Olympic appearance in the sport that sees athletes sliding headfirst down an icy track at about 130 to 140 kilometres an hour. Clarke, who was born in Brighton, Ont., but discovered sliding in Calgary, heads to her first Olympics, as does Josip Brusic of Okotoks, Alta., the lone Canadian male on the team.
Canada's Jane Channell waves to fans at the skeleton world championships in March, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press
Channell said she was pleased with her final race of the World Cup season last week in Altenberg, Germany – the final chance to tally Olympic qualifying points – where she placed 14th and clinched her berth.
While an Olympic newcomer, the 21-year-old Clarke is hardly an unknown in skeleton. She’s the first athlete to ever hold both the senior and junior skeleton world championship titles at the same time. In 2024, at 19, she became the youngest world champion ever in women’s skeleton. She then took gold at the junior world championships in 2025.
“It’s been awesome to have her on tour, to be sliding with her, she’s brought the fun back to sliding for me to be quite frank,” said Channell, 37. “To get to share her first Olympics with her is really special.”
Skeleton will take place in Cortina from Feb. 12 to 15. Team Canada will compete in the women’s and men’s individual events, as well as the mixed team event featuring one man and one woman that will make its Olympic debut in Italy.
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The sliding track set against Cortina’s mountains is the same venue used at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, but it’s new to today’s sliders as it closed in 2008 and was reconstructed and reopened for the 2026 Olympics. Sliders raced on it to open the World Cup season in November.
“It’s very flowy. ... It really feels like you can let the sled do its thing and flow with the track and those are the types of tracks that I love,” said Clarke, who finished sixth there. “You’re also surrounded by the Dolomites, and it’s gorgeous.”
Canada’s sliders will be among the athletes staying in the unique Cortina athletes’ village – a temporary, sustainable trailer-park style lodging complex in the mountains. After the Olympics, those mobile homes will be reused at campsites across Italy. While some athletes have expressed apprehension about “Glamping” during the Olympics, Channell isn’t one of them.
“It reminds me of the work camps that I get to go to in the summers, as I’m doing field audits for my work,” said Channell, whose job calls her to remote places in Northern British Columbia.
“Those type of camps are actually quite remarkable, how much storage space they have in them, for example. … These ones seem to be a lot more homey. I have no concerns. I’m quite excited.”