Skeleton at the Winter Olympics

How They Train: Skeleton Racing

TIME’s Sean Gregory (tries) to follow World Champion skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace as she trains for the upcoming winter Olympics. To watch more videos, check out: http://www.time.com/olympics.
Skeleton was part of the Winter Olympic Games program when the games were held in St. Moritz in 1928 and again in 1948, but was then removed from the program. The sport discipline was reintroduced at the 2002 Winter Olympics, with both men’s and women’s events.

Skeleton is a form of single-person sled racing, similar to luge. A key difference between skeleton and luge is that skeleton riders travel face-first with their stomach on the sled, whereas luge riders travel feet-first on their backs. Skeleton is so-named as the first metal sleds introduced in 1892 were said to resemble a human skeleton.