| Men's Skeleton at the XX Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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 Pictogram for skeleton | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Cesana Pariol | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 17 February | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 27 from 19 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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| Skeleton at the 2006 Winter Olympics | ||
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| men | women | |
The men's skeleton at the 2006 Winter Olympics took place on 17 February, at the Cesana Pariol.
Canadians Duff Gibson and Jeffrey Pain won gold and silver despite Pain nearly losing control of his sled coming around the penultimate corner. Switzerland's Gregor Stähli finished third, beating out Canadian Paul Boehm by only two tenths of a second to prevent a Canadian sweep of the podium. [1] Gibson dedicated his medal to his father, Andy, who had died in December 2005 after an 11-year battle with cancer. [2]
A picture of Gibson in action during this event would be used as a pictogram for the skeleton events at the following Winter Olympics.
| Rank | Name | Country | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | Diff. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Duff Gibson |  Canada | 0:57.80 | 0:58.08 | 1:55.88 | — |
 | Jeff Pain | Canada | 0:57.98 | 0:58.16 | 1:56.14 | +0.26 |
 | Gregor Stähli |  Switzerland | 0:58.39 | 0:58.41 | 1:56.80 | +0.92 |
| 4 | Paul Boehm | Canada | 0:58.61 | 0:58.45 | 1:57.06 | +1.18 |
| 5 | Kristan Bromley |  Great Britain | 0:58.35 | 0:58.75 | 1:57.10 | +1.22 |
| 6 | Eric Bernotas |  United States | 0:58.43 | 0:58.76 | 1:57.19 | +1.31 |
| 7 | Martins Dukurs |  Latvia | 0:58.79 | 0:58.60 | 1:57.39 | +1.51 |
| 8 | Adam Pengilly | Great Britain | 0:58.37 | 0:59.09 | 1:57.46 | +1.58 |
| 9 | Sebastian Haupt |  Germany | 0:58.48 | 0:59.10 | 1:57.58 | +1.70 |
| 10 | Ben Sandford |  New Zealand | 0:59.16 | 0:58.60 | 1:57.76 | +1.88 |
| 11 | Kazuhiro Koshi |  Japan | 0:58.65 | 0:59.40 | 1:58.05 | +2.17 |
| 12 | Maurizio Oioli |  Italy | 0:59.28 | 0:59.24 | 1:58.52 | +2.64 |
| 13 | Martin Rettl |  Austria | 0:59.23 | 0:59.53 | 1:58.76 | +2.88 |
| 14 | Phillippe Cavoret |  France | 0:59.79 | 0:59.08 | 1:58.87 | +2.99 |
| 15 | Aleksandr Tretyakov |  Russia | 0:59.71 | 0:59.32 | 1:59.03 | +3.15 |
| 16 | Markus Penz | Austria | 0:59.55 | 0:59.51 | 1:59.06 | +3.18 |
| 17 | Kevin Ellis | United States | 0:59.46 | 0:59.75 | 1:59.21 | +3.33 |
| 18 | Masaru Inada | Japan | 0:59.63 | 0:59.74 | 1:59.37 | +3.49 |
| 19 | Patrick Singleton |  Bermuda | 1:00.06 | 0:59.75 | 1:59.81 | +3.93 |
| 20 | David Connolly |  Ireland | 0:59.97 | 1:00.00 | 1:59.97 | +4.09 |
| 21 | Tyler Botha |  South Africa | 0:59.43 | 1:00.63 | 2:00.06 | +4.18 |
| 22 | Shaun Boyle |  Australia | 1:00.13 | 1:00.00 | 2:00.13 | +4.25 |
| 23 | Kang Kwang Bae |  South Korea | 1:00.41 | 0:59.88 | 2:00.29 | +4.41 |
| 24 | Frank Rommel | Germany | 0:59.94 | 1:00.41 | 2:00.35 | +4.47 |
| 25 | Chris Soule | United States | 1:00.33 | 1:00.90 | 2:01.23 | +5.35 |
| 26 | Nikola Nimac |  Croatia | 1:01.86 | 1:02.44 | 2:04.30 | +8.42 |
| 27 | Patrick Antaki |  Lebanon | 1:03.01 | 1:01.43 | 2:04.44 | +8.56 |
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter Olympics, the first being in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo; Italy had also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1960 in Rome.
The United States sent 204 athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Chris Witty, a four-time Olympian, who competed in both Summer and Winter games, and won a gold medal in speed skating at the 2002 Games, served as the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. Speed skater Joey Cheek, who won gold in the 500 m and silver in the 1000 m, was the flag bearer at the closing ceremonies. One athlete, Sarah Konrad, became the first American woman to compete in two different disciplines at the same Winter Olympics – biathlon and cross-country skiing.
Duff Gibson is a Canadian skeleton racer who competed from 1999 to 2006. He was born in Vaughan, Ontario. His father was born on December 13, 1937. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, He won the gold medal in the men's skeleton, narrowly beating out his teammate Jeff Pain. With his victory, the 39-year-old Gibson surpassed ice hockey player Al MacInnis as the oldest gold medalist in Canadian Winter Olympic history. More significantly, Gibson became the oldest individual gold medallist in the history of the Winter Games, a record previously held by Norway's Magnar Solberg, who was 35 when he won the gold medal in the 20 km individual biathlon event at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo; he held the record until Ole Einar Bjørndalen won gold at the 10 km biathlon sprint aged 40 at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He retired immediately following the 2006 Games in Turin.
Jeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Pain is an American-born Canadian former skeleton racer who competed from 1995 to 2010. He is regarded as one of the most successful male competitors in the history of the Canadian skeleton program. He was born in Anchorage, Alaska.
Kristan Bromley is a retired British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany. This was Great Britain's first gold medal at the FIBT World Championships since 1965.
Australia competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The team of 40 athletes was the largest ever for Australia, surpassing the team of 31 that participated at the 1960 Winter Olympics.
The skeleton competition at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games was held at Cesana Pariol in Cesana, Italy on February 16 (women's) and February 17 (men's).
New Zealand competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Athletes from the Netherlands competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The team of 35 competed in speed skating, bobsleigh, short track speed skating and snowboarding. The Dutch flag bearer during the opening ceremony was speedskater Jan Bos.
Switzerland competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. This was the confederation's largest Winter Olympics team ever, because two ice hockey teams qualified.
Bermuda sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. The Bermudian delegation consisted of a single athlete, skeleton racer Patrick Singleton. This was Bermuda's fifth Winter Olympic Games and Singleton's third consecutive Olympics as the only Bermudian athlete. In his event he came in 19th place.
Ireland sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was Ireland's fourth appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The Irish delegation to Turin consisted of four athletes, two alpine skiers, one cross-country skier, and one skeleton racer. The best performance by any Irish competitor at these Olympics was 20th, by David Connolly in the men's skeleton race.
Three men from South Africa competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. One of them, Alexander Heath, became the first African to compete in all 5 alpine events. The three-man South African team was the largest from the continent in Turin.
Lascelles Brown is a Jamaican-born Canadian bobsledder who has competed for three countries since starting his career in 1999. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he is the first Jamaican-born athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal.
Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are seated.
Wilfried "Willi" Schneider is a German skeleton racer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He won two medals in the men's skeleton event at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in 1998 and a bronze in 1999.
The women's skeleton at the 2006 Winter Olympics took place on 16 February, at the Cesana Pariol.
The men's skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 18–19 February. Canada's Duff Gibson was the defending Olympic champion. Gibson retired after the 2006 Olympics. Switzerland's Gregor Stähli, the defending Olympic bronze medalist was the defending world champion, but did not compete due to a thigh injury sustained during the World Cup event in Lake Placid, New York, on 20 November 2009. The test event held at the venue was won by Jon Montgomery of Canada. The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games took place in Igls, Austria, on 23 January 2010 and was won by Latvia's Martins Dukurs who also won the overall World Cup title.