Katie Uhlaender
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"Katie Uhlaender" is an United States/American skeleton (sport)/skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She won four medals at the FIBT World Championships with one silver (women's skeleton: FIBT World Championships 2008/2008) and three bronzes (women's skeleton: FIBT World Championships 2007/2007, mixed bobsleigh-skeleton team event: 2008, FIBT World Championships 2009/2009).

Uhlaender won the women's List of Skeleton World Cup champions/Skeleton World Cup title twice (2007 Skeleton World Cup/2006-7, 2007-08 Skeleton World Cup/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, and broke it again in August 2009 (having a total of four surgeries).

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

More Katie Uhlaender on Wikipedia.

Going down feels like one of those dreams [where you think] you're flying. Your heart's beating fast, you're accelerating around the corner, you swing, and then it's like you're Superman.

Basically, I love the sport. It's the combination of physical explosion, running, focusing, hitting a zone.... The mental state on a sled feels awesome.

We've been through a lot. I'm going to continue as I have throughout the season, doing the best I can and focusing on the one race that counts in February.

It is unfortunate that Tim will not be with us, and it would be great to have him there. But this season has been full of surprises and crazy situations. It is nothing that our team can't handle.

Our team has been through the wringer. And people forget that we've got a man who's third in the world, another man who's fourth in the world and me who was fourth in the world. If we all get medals, fantastic. But we don't limit ourselves by any expectations.

It's all about how you handle it and I think that's part of being an elite-level athlete. Anyone in life has problems that they deal with in situations. It's all about your mentality. That's how you win this sport. When a bad situation comes up or when you make a mistake, you've got to handle it smoothly.

In my training runs, I threw down solid yesterday.

This is the coolest thing in the world.

I know I could have been on that podium. But I'll take it. My first Olympics, my third season ever in the sport. I'm 21 years old. I've got plenty of time.