Skeleton was started in St Moritz, Switzerland in the late 1800s and regarded as the world’s first sliding sport.  The first sliders raced down the road from St Moritz to Celerina, which is now known as the famous ‘Cresta Run.’  It became an Olympic sport in 1928 and takes place on the same refrigerated ice tracks as the Bobsleigh and Luge.

In skeleton, the athlete pushes the sled one handed at the start before jumping onto it and lying head first as they slide down the ice track, steering with their shoulders, knees and toes.  The aim of skeleton is to be the fastest at the end of the run, over two consecutive runs.

There are many theories as to how the sport became known as ‘skeleton’ from the metal sleds looking like a human skeleton, to the miss-pronunciation of Norwegian!