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.
Christopher Spring is an Australian-Canadian 4 x Olympic bobsledder who has competed since 2008. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, he competed for Australia in the two-man event. He switched allegiance to Canada later in 2010 and has since competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics for Canada.
Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE is a British former skeleton racer who joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010. With consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, she is the most successful British Winter Olympian and the most successful Olympic skeleton athlete of all time from any nation. She won the 2013–14 Skeleton World Cup, followed by a gold in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Yarnold was selected to be one of the two women skeleton drivers representing Team GB at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and went on to become the first person to defend an Olympic gold in skeleton and the first British athlete to defend a Winter Olympic title. Yarnold set the track record for women's skeleton at the Olympic venue in the final heat of the race with a time of 51.46 seconds, beating Jacqueline Lölling's pre-Olympic record by nearly 1.3 seconds and her own first-heat record by 0.2 second. Yarnold was also the flag bearer for Great Britain at the Pyeongchang opening ceremony.
Elena Valeryevna Nikitina is a Russian skeleton racer who joined the national squad in 2009. She rides a Schneider sled, and her coach is Denis Alimov. Before starting skeleton, she was an association football player.
Sophia Griebel is a German skeleton racer who has raced at the Winter Olympics and the Skeleton World Cup. She started racing skeleton in 2005 and was selected to the German national team in 2008; she was a luger before switching to skeleton. Her personal coach is Christian Baude and she uses an FES sled. Away from sport, she works for the German Federal Police. Griebel was injured in 2016 and spent 18 months recovering before returning to the World Cup circuit in November 2017, but after poor showings in the season's first two races, she was replaced on the German World Cup squad by Anna Fernstädt.
Yun Sung-bin is a South Korean skeleton racer. He won the gold medal in men's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and was a participant at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Elisabeth Vathje is a retired Canadian skeleton racer. In 2008, she was encouraged to try sliding sports by her father, who had shared an airplane trip with members of the Canadian luge team, but as a 14-year-old, she was too young to train bobsleigh, so she tried out for skeleton instead. She used a Bromley sled. Vathje was named one of the three women to represent Canada in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after finishing third in the World Cup season standings for 2017–18. She retired in 2022 after being left off the Canadian team for the 2021–22 season.
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.
Laura Deas is a British sportswoman, best known as a skeleton racer on the World Cup circuit, representing the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association. She won bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Jacqueline "Jacka" Pfeifer is a German skeleton racer who has won numerous races and championships, including the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics skeleton competition in 2012 and the 2017 World Championships. Pfeifer began competing in skeleton at the age of 12 and was selected to the German national team in 2009. She won her first two international races, as a fifteen-year-old on the Europe Cup circuit, at Cesana Pariol in 2010. Her personal coach is Kathi Wichterle, and she rides an FES sled. When not racing, Pfeifer works for the German Federal Police.
Axel Jungk is a German skeleton racer who represents his nation in the Skeleton World Cup.
Mirela "Mimi" Rahneva is a Canadian skeleton racer. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1997; her father, Stoyan, was a competitive gymnast, and her mother was an elite sprinter. After playing rugby in high school and at the University of Guelph, she began competing in skeleton in 2012 and was selected to the Canadian national team in 2016. She is coached by Quin Sekulich and rides a Bromley sled. She was named one of the three women to represent Canada in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after earning eighth on the World Cup season standings for 2017–18.
Kim Meylemans is a German-born Belgian skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup. After starting out in football, she began competing in skeleton in 2009 and was selected to the German national team in 2013. In the 2014–15 season, she moved to the Belgium national team. She is coached by Fernando Oliva and Martin Rettl, and rides a Schneider sled. She became the first ever Belgian skeleton European champion on February 2, 2024, at the Skeleton World Cup race in Sigulda, Latvia and the first ever Belgian skeleton world championships medal winner on February 23, 2024, winning a silver at the Skeleton World Championships in Winterberg, Germany.
Kimberley Bos is a Dutch skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started competing internationally in 2009, originally in bobsleigh, and was selected to the Dutch national team in 2010; she switched to skeleton for the 2013–14 European Cup season. Her personal coach is Urta Rozenstruik, and she rides a Bromley sled. Away from the track, Bos is a physiotherapy student, occasionally serving as "unofficial physio" to the other athletes. Bos was the only woman named to represent the Netherlands in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where she finished eighth. Bos returned for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she won the bronze medal and became the first Dutch skeleton athlete to win a medal.
Jaclyn Narracott is an Australian skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She began international skeleton competition in 2012 when she joined the Australian national team; in 2011 she competed in bobsleigh for two European Cup races. Narracott has competed on the World Cup, the top level of international skeleton, since 2014; prior to that she competed on the European and North American Cups. She slides on a Bromley sled, and lives and trains in Bath, England, with the British bobsleigh and skeleton athletes. Australian Olympic track and bobsleigh athlete Paul Narracott is her uncle. She is in a relationship with British skeleton slider Dom Parsons.
Kristen Bujnowski is a Canadian bobsledder.
The Netherlands competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
Nicole Rocha Silveira is a Brazilian skeleton racer and former bobsledder who competes on the Skeleton World Cup.
