The Olympic sport that sends athletes hurtling head first down icy tracks at 90 miles an hour

By Caroline Praderio, INSIDER From Business Insider

• Skeleton is a Winter Olympics sport that dates back to the 1880s.
• Events take place on a track made of ice. In Pyeongchang, the skeleton track is 1,376 meters long. 
• Skeleton athletes push sleds as fast as they can, then jump on and speed head first down the track, using minor shifts in body weight to steer.
• They can slide at speeds greater than 90 miles per hour. 
• It’s really rough on the body.

There is no shortage of intense sports at the Winter Olympics.Snowboarding is famous for its crashes. Cross-country skiing is so brutal that skiers collapse the moment they cross the finish line. Figure skating moves bring skaters’ heads within inches of the ice.

But skeleton — in which athletes slide head first down an icy track at 90 miles per hour — might be in a class of its own.

Here’s a simple guide to the sport.

Skeleton was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s.

A skeleton racer at the 1948 Winter Olympics.Central Press/Getty Images

Today’s skeleton sliders look futuristic in their aerodynamic suits, but their sport is one of the oldest at the Winter Olympics, according to the International Olympic Committee.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) explains that skeleton — once known as tobogganing — originated in the mountains of Switzerland in 1880s,

In 1892, one English tobogganer started using new kind of sled made of metal. The IBSF says the sport may have gotten its name because that sled looked like a skeleton. The term “skeleton” may also be related to “kjelke,” the Norwegian word for “toboggan.” (It’s pronounced “shell-keh.”)

No one knows for sure, but either way, skeleton picked up popularity as a racing sport. Competitions began in the early 1900s, and the IBSF was founded in 1923. Skeleton first appeared at the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948 but was then dropped from the games because it was deemed too dangerous, according to the official Pyeongchang website. But the sport was reintroduced to the Olympics in 2002, when women’s events were added. It’s been a part of the Winter Games ever since.

Athletes hurtle down the track — and it’s harder than it looks.

Skeleton events take place on an icy track that curves and slopes downward for about 1,200 to 1,500 meters. It’s the same track that’s used for bobsled events, according to the IBSF.

Here’s an aerial view of the track in Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which is 1,376 meters long.

The Alpensia Sliding Center.Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images

Athletes begin by crouching over, holding on to their sleds, and running as fast as they can for the first 50 meters or so, the New York Times explained. Tiny spikes on their shoes keep them from slipping, but it’s still a tough feat. The sleds, made of steel and fiberglass, weigh 77 to 95 pounds, according to the IBSF.

Then the sliders leap onto their sleds head first and flatten down their bodies to be as aerodynamic as possible. Once in proper sliding position, their chins are only about 5 centimeters away from the ice. The IBSF notes that sliders can reach speeds greater than 90 miles per hour and experience up to 5Gs of gravitational force — that’s more than what astronauts experience during a rocket launch, the New York Times says.

To steer, athletes make tiny adjustments to their body position using their legs and shoulders.

From there, it’s a simple race to the bottom. Each slider gets four runs, and the athlete with lowest combined time wins, the BBC explains. In skeleton, the margin of victory is usually just a few hundredths of a second.

To TV viewers, the ride might look smooth. For racers, it’s anything but.

Maria Marinela Mazilu of Romania sliding at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Even if an athlete doesn’t crash, skeleton is still rough on the human body.

“You’re so close to the ice that any little bump, you feel it,” slider Katie Tannenbaum told the New York Times.

“When you go right through a corner with four to five Gs of pressures, it’s instantaneous,” slider Matt Antoine told the Times. “People smack their faces on the ice, concussions happen … You pretty much never do more than three tracks a day. You can’t handle it.”

American skeleton athlete John Daly starred in a video that shows exactly what it’s like to speed down the track. See what it’s like from the slider’s point of view right here:

Want more? Read all of our coverage of the Winter Olympicshere.

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