Canada cleared of US allegations they rigged skeleton qualifying for Winter Olympics
Canada’s skeleton team have been cleared of allegations they rigged a qualifying event for the Winter Olympics and denied rival athletes the chance to qualify for next month’s Games,USA’s Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, accused the Canadian team of deliberately pulling four of its six athletes from a race in Lake Placid, New York, last weekend in order to make it harder for athletes from other countries to qualify,The reduced field meant fewer qualifying points were available and Uhlaender, who won the event, did not secure her place at this year’s Milano Cortina Games in Italy,Uhlaender claims Joe Cecchini, the head coach of Canada’s skeleton team, told her he had come up with the scheme,However, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) said it would take no action after investigating the allegations.
“The current IBSF Rules allow national federations to withdraw athletes from competition at any time,” IBSF said in a statement on Thursday.“The IIU [Interim Integrity Unit] dismissed the complaints as the current IBSF rules and regulations did not give grounds for a breach of the international rules, the code of conduct, and respectively the code of ethics.”Three officials for Norway’s men’s ski jumping team have been suspended for 18 months and fined by the ethics committee of the FIS – the sport's governing body – for manipulating competition suits at last year’s Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim.The case tarnished Norway’s hosting of the Nordic World Ski Championships last March and the country’s wider reputation for fair play.The head coach Magnus Brevik, former assistant coach Thomas Lobben and suit technician Adrian Livelten were sanctioned after an investigation into equipment tampering during the men’s large hill event in March 2025.
The controversy erupted after Norway’s Olympic champions Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, along with the coaching staff, were charged over the use of altered suits.Lindvik initially finished second but was stripped of his silver medal after being disqualified, while Forfang, who placed fourth, was also disqualified after an equipment inspection.The Norwegian Ski Federation admitted after the competition that the team had manipulated the suits but said the ski jumpers were not at fault for the violations.The organisers found nothing untoward during the initial check, but after the race they discovered different material in the seams.Forfang and Lindvik accepted three-month bans in August and are back competing ahead of the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.
In a statement, the FIS said Brevik, Lobben and Livelten would be ineligible for a period “of 18 months, commencing on the date of the decision (8 January 2026), less the period of provisional suspension already served since 12 March 2025”.The governing body added they would have to contribute 5,000 Swiss Franc (£4,650, $6,246) each to the costs of the proceedings and the investigation.In a statement to the Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the trio’s lawyers said the decision was “disproportionately strict”.“The grounds of the judgment expressly state that similar rule violations have not been sanctioned previously – or have only been met with a warning – and that this case is being used as an example to mark a new and stricter line in international ski jumping,” they added.AP and ReutersCoaches from the US, Denmark, Israel and Malta, whose athletes were all affected by the Canadian withdrawals, had expressed “serious concerns” about the qualification process.
However, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton defended the withdrawals, saying some of the athletes who were pulled from competition had already raced several times last week and needed to rest.It said the decision was “appropriate, transparent and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport”.Uhlaender, who is 41, has said the 2026 Olympics will be her last.She can still qualify for next month’s Games, but the US spots are likely to go to Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro.Although Uhlaender won gold at the 2012 skeleton world championships, the closest she has come to an Olympic medal was when she finished fourth at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
The incident comes after a number of heated sporting clashes between Canada and the US at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to make his neighbor a “51st state” and has raised tariffs on Canadian goods,During last year’s 4 Nations Face-off, Canadian ice hockey fans booed the US national anthem and the former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game,” In last season’s World Series the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series, although most of the tension was due to the action on the field,
ADHD care needs better regulation and fewer pills | Letters
As a UK-trained consultant psychiatrist, fully indemnified, appraised and regulated by the General Medical Council, with specialist expertise in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment, I read your article on rising ADHD care costs with concern and frustration (NHS ADHD spending over budget by £164m as unregulated clinics boom, 12 January).For the past eight months I have been navigating the opaque Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration process to provide high-quality, fully regulated ADHD assessments in an independent setting, alongside two similarly qualified colleagues. Until this process is complete, I am legally prohibited from seeing patients.It is therefore deeply troubling to learn from your article that multiple companies have been awarded NHS ADHD contracts despite not having CQC registration. In addition, some health professions fall outside the CQC remit and thus can set up a practice “diagnosing and treating” ADHD tomorrow – for example, a psychologist working with a prescribing pharmacist
Religious tradition, child safety and the law on circumcision | Letters
I would welcome criminalising circumcision if it was performed by an unqualified person – just as would be the case if someone unqualified conducted any other surgical operation (Circumcision classed as possible child abuse in draft CPS document, 10 January). But leaping from that to banning the practice altogether is not justified.Given that it is a longstanding and important tradition among Jews, Muslims and various other cultures, the best way forward is to only permit circumcision if it is practised by someone specifically qualified for it and who belongs to a nationally accredited scheme. This would involve compulsory training, monitoring all cases and producing annual reports.Such a step is vital if we value both the safety of children and the integrity of faith backgrounds, and should be implemented as soon as possible
Woman pulled out of UK ultramarathon after death threats over Afghanistan fundraising
A woman was pulled out of Britain’s most gruelling ultramarathon after receiving death threats over her fundraising for Afghan women and girls.Sarah Porter was nearly a third of the way through the 108-mile Montane Winter Spine Challenger South endurance race when organisers made the “difficult decision” to withdraw her due to threats to her life in relation to the foundation she runs helping women and girls in war zones.Speaking to the Guardian, Porter said she was disappointed. “My immediate feeling was just one of shame really.”“I was very emotional,” she said, “just born from the perspective that I really felt like I’d let down the girls that I was running for and I’d really kind of got this narrative in my head and psyched myself up that what I was doing was just so insignificant in comparison to what they’re enduring
Circumcision kits found on sale on Amazon UK as concerns grow over harm to baby boys
Circumcision kits have been found on sale on Amazon UK, highlighting lax regulation as concerns grow about deaths and serious harm to baby boys.In December, a UK coroner issued warnings about insufficient circumcision regulation after the death in 2023 of a six-month-old boy, Mohamed Abdisamad, from a streptococcus infection.In a prevention of future deaths report, Dr Anton van Dellen, assistant coroner for west London, highlighted how “any individual may conduct a non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) without any prior training”, with “no requirement for any infection control measures [and] no requirements for any aftercare”, adding that “action should be taken to prevent future deaths”.The Department of Health and Social Care has until the end of February to respond.The Guardian found “Plastibell” kits, in various sizes, on sale for £200 on Amazon in January
One in four UK teenagers in care have attempted to end their lives, study says
One in four teenagers in care have attempted to end their own life, and are four times more likely to do so than their peers with no care experience, according to a landmark study.The research analysed data from the millennium cohort study, which follows the lives of 19,000 people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, and considered how out of home care, including foster, residential and kinship care, affected the social and mental health outcomes of the participants.More than one in four (26%) 17-year-olds who have lived in foster or residential care have attempted to end their own lives, the analysis found, compared with only one in 14 (7%) of teenagers with no experience of being in care.Although previous research has found that about 7% of UK children have attempted suicide by the age of 17, this study, conducted by academics from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is the first to calculate the elevated suicide risk teenagers with care experience have.Lisa Harker, the director of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, said the fact that one in four care-experienced children had attempted suicide was a “national emergency”
Five minutes more exercise and 30 minutes less sitting could help millions live longer
Just five extra minutes of exercise and half an hour less sitting time each day could help millions of people live longer, according to research highlighting the potentially huge population benefits of making even tiny lifestyle changes.Until now, evidence about reducing the number of premature deaths assumed that everyone must meet specific targets, overlooking the positives of even minor increases in physical activity.Moderate-intensity physical activity such as brisk walking for an extra five minutes a day was associated with an estimated 10% reduction in deaths, the study of 135,000 people from the UK, US, Norway and Sweden found.Researchers led by the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences also found reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes a day was associated with an estimated 7% reduction in all deaths.The greatest benefit was seen if the least active 20% of the population increased their activity by five minutes each day
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