Skeleton

Preview of the Olympic event skeleton.

TIME's Sean Gregory (tries) to follow World Champion skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace as she trains for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver

Both require lightning-fast reflexes, but that's where the similarities end.

Skeleton is a fast winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down (prone), during which the rider experiences forces up to 5 g and reaches speeds over 130 km/h (80 mph)

Skeleton is a winter sport featured in the Winter Olympic Games where the competitor rides head-first and prone (lying face down) on a flat sled. It is normally run on an ice track that allows the sled to gain speed by gravity. It was first contested at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz and again in 1948 Winter Olympics, after which it was discontinued as an Olympic sport.

Winter sport in which the skeleton sled, or Cresta, consisting of steel runners fastened to a platform chassis, is ridden in a headfirst, prone position.

If you like sports with lightning speed, you?ll love skeleton. The premise is simple: get yourself and your sled to the bottom of an ice track as quickly as possible. But there?s a lot more to it than that.

Follow Olympic Bobsleigh Skeleton one of fifteen sports at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics 7-23 Feb Videos photos results medalists & events

History rules and equipment for Skeleton Thrill seeking tourists the Cresta run Olympic history Development of sleds frames Skeleton name history.

Plunging head-first down a sliding track at 85 mph looks dangerous, but skeleton fans defend its safety