Skeleton is the sledding sport at the Olympics that features the competitor facing head-first down the track. The competitor lies on their stomach, face down. It was a part of the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics, then didn't return until 2002. The sport of skeleton is named after the first metal sleds.

Skeleton is one of the fastest sports at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Here’s how the head-first sliding event works and who is competing for the U.S. (AP photo)

The bobsled, luge and skeleton are among the more popular Winter Olympics events, and while they have many similarities, there are key differences.

Skeleton may slightly trail luge and bobsleigh in the sliding sport speed rankings but with its athletes' heads skimming only centimetres from a tunnel of ice, it creates a mix of fear and exhilaration that becomes an instant drug for many.

Skeleton made its Olympic debut at the 1928 Winter Games in Switzerland and became a permanent event in 2002 during the Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Britain’s powerhouse skeleton team has lost its appeal to wear a newly designed helmet at the Milan Cortina Olympics, a decision that upholds the International Bobsled and Skeleton federation’s ruling that they were not compliant with current safety standards.

A junior taekwondo champion with a broken back from a country that does not boast a single sliding track, Briton Matt Weston is an unlikely star of skeleton, yet he arrives at the Olympics in Cortina as double world champion and hot favourite for gold.

Former U.S. skeleton athlete John Daly was once asked why anyone would decide to hurl themselves, headfirst, down an ice-coated mountainside chute on a thin sled with no safety equipment other than a helmet. Daly laughed. “If I knew that, I probably ...

Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut this year, the first winter sport to do so since 2002. Skeleton, luge, ski jumping and moguls are also getting new events.