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.
Maya Pedersen-Bieri is a Swiss-Norwegian skeleton racer who has competed since 1995. She won the gold medal in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She retired from the sport in 2010 before returning to compete for Norway in 2016, becoming at the oldest woman to start a World Cup race when she returned to the top level of skeleton in 2017. She is listed in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation athlete registration system as Maya Pedersen.
Joska Le Conté is a Dutch skeleton racer who has competed since 2006. Prior to starting in skeleton, she was a pole vaulter; when not competing, she works for the Royal Dutch Motorsport Association (KNMV) as a policy officer. Her skeleton coach is Martin Rettl, who works with a number of athletes from small nations under the name "Badass Skeleton Team". Although Le Conté earned a second quota for Dutch women's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, she did not meet the stricter qualification standards of the Dutch Olympic Committee, and the second Dutch quota was reallocated to Switzerland.
Nozomi Komuro is a Japanese skeleton racer who has competed since 2004 and joined the Japanese national team in 2005. She uses a Bromley sled.
Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE is a former British 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. Prior to 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.
Lelde Priedulēna is a former Latvian skeleton racer, and was the 2016 Junior World Champion in the sport. She participated at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Before starting skeleton racing, Priedulēna was a track and field athlete, competing in the 60, 100, and 200 metre sprint events. Like other Latvian skeletoners, she is coached by sled-builder and former Latvian bobsleigh driver Dainis Dukurs, and rides a Dukurs-built sled. She began international competition in 2010 on the Europe Cup circuit, but recorded only five starts during two seasons before being elevated to the Intercontinental Cup and World Cup tours. In the summer of 2017, she tore a cruciate ligament, but elected to forgo surgery and continue training in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In February 2019 Priedulēna announced end of her professional career due to the injuries.
Elisabeth Maier is a 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 uses 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 is married to Austrian bobsleigh driver Benjamin Maier.
Laura Deas is a British sports woman, 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" Lölling 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. She 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, Lölling works for the German Federal Police.
Tina Hermann is a German skeleton racer and a four-time World champion. She began racing in 2007 and was selected to the national team in 2009. She is coached by Dirk Matschenz (personal) and Jens Müller (national); away from the track she is a police officer.
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.
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.
Anna Fernstädtová, also known as Anna Fernstädt, is a Czech skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started competing in 2011 and was selected to the German national team in 2013. In May, 2018, she announced on her personal Twitter account that she was joining the Czech Republic team for the 2018–19 season.
Savannah Graybill is an American skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She attended American University, from which she graduated in 2010 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. When not competing, she works for a sporting-goods retailer in Plattsburgh, New York, near the United States Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. Before skeleton, she tried out bobsledding, but did not compete in the sport; in high school and college, she played field hockey.
Takako Oguchi is a Japanese skeleton racer who has competed since 2003 and joined the Japanese national team in 2005. She uses a Bromley sled. She married in 2015.
Ashleigh Fay Pittaway is a German-British skeleton racer who competes 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 is Danny Holdcroft, and she uses 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.
María Montejano is a Spanish skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started racing in 2008 on the Europe Cup, and joined the World Cup for the 2016–17 season. She has yet to record a World Cup finish higher than 20th ; her best finish on the Intercontinental Cup was 10th, and on the Continental Cups was 6th. Her personal coach is Sebastian Conesa and she uses a Dukurs sled.
Jeong Sophia is a South Korean skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup and lower ranking circuits. She started racing in 2013 and was selected to the Korean national team in 2014. Her personal coach is Jinho Song. Jeong was the first Korean woman to earn a podium in an international skeleton race, with two third-place finishes at a North American Cup at Calgary in November, 2016. She followed that performance the following season with the first ever win by a Korean woman, at Park City. She has competed in four Intercontinental Cup races, all at Calgary. She joined the World Cup for two races in the 2017–18 season, at Park City (25th) and Igls (19th), before heading home to train for the 2018 Winter Olympics, where she received South Korea's automatic entry in the competition as the host country.
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