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Skeleton (sport)

Winter sliding sport

  • 12 min read
  • 6 chapters

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Unlike other sliding sports bobsleigh and luge, the race always involves single riders. Like bobsleigh, but unlike luge, the race begins with a running start from the opening gate at the top of the course. The skeleton sled is thinner and heavier than the luge sled, and skeleton gives the rider more precise control of the sled. Skeleton is the slowest of the three sliding sports, as skeleton's face-down, head-first riding position is less aerodynamic than luge's face-up, feet-first ride.

Previously, skeleton appeared in the Olympic program in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928 and again in 1948. It was added permanently to the Olympic program for the 2002 Winter Olympics, at which stage a women's race was added.

During elite racing the rider experiences accelerations up to 5 g and reaches speeds over 130 km/h (81 mph).

History

The skeleton originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland, as a spinoff of the tobogganing sport pioneered by the British on the Cresta Run. Although skeleton "sliders" use equipment similar to that of Cresta "riders", the two sports are different: while skeleton is run on the same tracks used by bobsleds and luge (which are sufficiently 'closed' that a participant is highly unlikely to be ejected from the track), the Cresta takes place only on the Cresta Run (which is more open, meaning a rider losing control can fall out of the run). Skeleton sleds are steered using torque provided by the head and shoulders. The Cresta toboggan does not have a steering or braking mechanism, though Cresta riders use rakes on their boots in addition to shifting body weight to help steer and brake.

The sport of skeleton can be traced to 1882, when English soldiers constructed a toboggan track between the towns of Davos and Klosters in Switzerland. While toboggan tracks were not uncommon at the time, the added challenge of curves and bends in the Swiss track distinguished it from those of Canada and the United States. The source of the word is debated; some speculate that it comes from the skeleton-like appearance of the original sleds, and others an incorrectly anglicized version of the Norwegian word for toboggan, kjelke.

Approximately 30 km (20 mi) away in the winter sports town of St. Moritz, British men had long enjoyed racing one another down the busy, winding streets of the town, causing an uproar among citizens because of the danger to pedestrians and visiting tourists. In 1884, Major William Bulpett, with the backing of winter sports pioneer and Kulm hotel owner Caspar Badrutt, constructed the Cresta Run, the first tobogganing track of its kind in St. Moritz. The track ran three-quarters of a mile from St. Moritz to Celerina, with ten turns still used today. When the Winter Olympic Games were held at St. Moritz in 1928 and 1948, the Cresta Run was included in the program, the only two times skeleton was included as an Olympic event before its permanent addition in 2002 to the Winter Games.

In the 1887 Grand National competition in St. Moritz, a Mr. Cornish introduced the now-traditional head-first position, a trend that was in full force by the 1890 Grand National.

International expansion

Skeleton was practiced mainly in Switzerland; however, in 1905, Styria held its first skeleton competition in Mürzzuschlag, Austria. This opened the door to other national skeleton competitions including the Austrian championship held the following year. In 1908 and 1910, skeleton competitions were held in the Semmering Pass. As the popularity of the sport grew, skeleton evolved into the sport recognized today. In 1892, the sled was transformed by L. P. Child, an Englishman, to incorporate a more bare-bones design.

In 1923, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) was established as the governing body of the sport. Soon afterward, in 1926, the International Olympic Committee declared bobsleigh and skeleton as Olympic sports and adopted the rules of the St. Moritz run as the officially recognized Olympic rules. It was not until 2002, however, that skeleton returned to the Olympic Winter Games after a 54-year absence, with the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, US. In 2015, the FIBT was renamed the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF), and the Congress of the IBSF adopted its current governing statutes in 2016.

Popularity in the sport has grown since the 2002 Winter Olympics and now includes participation by some countries that either do not or cannot have a track because of climate, terrain or monetary limitations. Athletes from countries including Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, South Africa, Argentina, Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, and even the Virgin Islands have become involved with the sport in recent years. The IBSF operates a support program for "emerging nations", which provides travel, coaching, and equipment funding assistance to countries which have neither a track nor three qualified pilots in three IBSF disciplines; in 2017, 20 national federations qualified for financial support in men's skeleton, and 11 qualified in women's skeleton.

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