Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled, down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of the sled.
The International Luge Federation is the main international federation for all luge sports. Founded by 13 nations at Davos, Switzerland in 1957, it has members of 53 national luge associations as of 2009 and is based in Berchtesgaden, Germany. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, in March 2022 the FIL banned all Russian athletes, coaches, and officials from its events, suspended all Russian officials appointed to its Commissions and Working Groups, and deemed Russia ineligible to host any of its events.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) is the international sports federation for the sliding sports of Bobsleigh and Skeleton. It was founded on 23 November 1923 by the delegates of Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States at the meeting of their first International Congress in Paris, France. In June 2015, it announced a name change from FIBT to IBSF. The federation's headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Christian Farstad is a two-time Canadian olympian in the sport of bobsleigh. He's the former CEO of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, former Director of Athlete and Community Relations for the Canadian Olympic Committee and is a graduate of Athabasca University. He was nominated for the Sport Leadership award at the Canadian Sport Awards in 2003.
Kerstin Szymkowiak is a German retired skeleton racer who has competed since 2002. She won three bronze medals in the women's skeleton event, earning them in 2004, 2008, and 2009.
The FIBT World Championships 2011 took place 14 February – 27 February 2011 in Königssee, Germany, for the fifth time, doing so previously in 1979, 1986, and 1990 (skeleton), and 2004. In 2007, the championships were awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy over Winterberg Germany, but Cortina withdrew in February 2009 to issues with the city of Cortina.
The Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Igls, Austria. The most recent version of the track was completed in 1975 and is the first permanent, combination artificially refrigerated bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track, serving as a model for other tracks of its kind worldwide. It hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian and American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
German Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Federation is the official federation for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton in Germany. It is the German representative both to the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and the International Luge Federation and is part of the German Olympic Committee.
Amy Gough is a Canadian skeleton racer who has competed since 2002. Her best result in a Skeleton World Cup event was first at Winterberg, Germany, in December 2011, while her best overall finish in a Skeleton World Cup was fifth in the 2010–11 Skeleton World Cup.
The skeleton competition of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was held at Whistler Sliding Centre. The events were held between the 18 and 19 February 2010. This event was expanded to four runs over two days beginning at these Olympic Games.
The women's skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 18–19 February. The competition was won by British athlete Amy Williams, who set new course records for the track on her first and third runs. Williams, who had never before won a World Cup or World Championship event, became the first British athlete to win a solo Winter Olympic gold medal in 30 years. German sliders Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Williams' teammate Shelley Rudman, who had won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, both of whom had been expected to be in medal contention, were disappointed.
Benjamin Coakwell is a Canadian Olympic bobsledder. He is a former Canadian football running back, who played CIS football with the Saskatchewan Huskies.
Jane Channell is a Canadian skeleton racer who has competed since 2011 and was selected to the national team in 2013, joining the Skeleton World Cup squad in 2015. Channell was inspired to try skeleton by Jon Montgomery's gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Before skeleton, Channell played softball and competed in track and field, winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track titles in 60 metres and 200 metres. Channell was named one of the three women to represent Canada in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after finishing fifth in both the overall and World Cup standings for the 2017–18 season.
Madison Charney is a Canadian skeleton racer who has competed since 2012. In 2014–15, she finished 9th at the 2014 FIBT World Junior Championships in Winterberg, Germany. She won the 2014 Canadian senior championships and had her first World Cup top-10 finish at Calgary in December 2014.
Melissa Lotholz is a Canadian bobsledder.
Barrett Martineau is a Canadian Olympic skeleton racer who has competed since 2010. He was the Canadian Champion in both the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons. Barrett competed for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang South Korea. In 2016–17, he finished 13th in the overall ranking. He competed for the top of the World Cup overall ranking. He then finished 13th at the 2017 IBSF World Championships. He also won 7 America Cups and 3 Canadian National Titles.
Ashleigh Fay Pittaway is a former German-British skeleton racer who competed on the Skeleton World Cup and Europe Cup circuits. She started racing in 2011 in Germany while a student, and joined the national team in 2015. Her personal coach was Danny Holdcroft, and she used a BlackRoc sled. She won a gold medal in the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer. She also made her World Cup debut in 2016, at Königssee, where she finished 15th. She retired from competitive racing in September 2021, ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Johannes Lochner is a German bobsledder who competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing where he won two silver medals.
Cynthia Appiah is a Canadian bobsledder who has been competing in the sport since 2014. Appiah made her World Cup debut in 2016. In 2018, she shifted to the pilot position and later made her World Cup debut as a bobsleigh pilot in the 2019/2020 season. At the IBSF World Championships 2021 in Altenberg, Germany, Appiah placed fifth and ninth in monobob and two-woman bobsleigh, respectively.
