Skeleton

Skeleton is a sledding sport founded on the famed Cresta Run, at St. Moritz, Switzerland. In skeleton, the sliders lie prone on their sleds, face-down. As there was initially only one skeleton track in the world, the sport could only be held when the Olympic Winter Games were held in St. Moritz, in 1928 and 1948. After its second appearance, it was replaced with luge, but the sport made a comeback in 2002 at Salt Lake City, with events for both men and women, and has been on the Olympic Programme ever since.

Through 2026, Great Britain’s Lizzy Yarnold and Matt Weston are the only skeleton sliders with two gold medals. Three German sliders have won three Olympic medals, led by Christopher Grotheer (one gold and two bronzes).

As of 2026, Great Britain leads the gold medal count in this discipline, with five, followed by the United States, with three. However, it is Germany who tops the overall count, with 12 medals, ahead of Britain’s 11.

Skeleton is governed by the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF), which was founded as the Fédération internationale de bobsleigh et de tobogganing (FIBT) on 23 November 1923, in Paris, France, and renamed in 2015. As of January 2026, the IBSF has 74 national federations as members.