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In 1884, Major William Bulpett, with the backing of winter sports pioneer and Kulm hotel owner Caspar Badrutt, constructed Cresta Run, the first sledding track of its kind in St. Moritz. The source of the word is debated some speculate that it comes from the skeleton-like appearance of the original sleds, and others an incorrectly anglicized version of the Norwegian word for toboggan, "Kjelke".Īpproximately 30 km (20 mi) away in the winter sports town of St. Moritz, British men had long enjoyed racing one another down the busy, winding streets of the town, causing an uproar among citizens because of the danger to pedestrians and visiting tourists. While toboggan tracks were not uncommon at the time, the added challenge of curves and bends in the Swiss track distinguished it from those of Canada and the United States. The sport of skeleton can be traced to 1882, when English soldiers constructed a toboggan track between the towns of Davos and Klosters in Switzerland. The Cresta toboggan does not have a steering or braking mechanism, though Cresta riders use rakes on their boots in addition to shifting body weight to help steer and brake. Skeleton sleds are steered using torque provided by the head and shoulders. Although skeleton "sliders" use equipment similar to that of Cresta "riders", the two sports are different: while skeleton is run on the same track used by bobsleds and luge, Cresta is run on Cresta-specific sledding tracks only. The skeleton originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland, as a spinoff of the popular British sport called Cresta sledding. It was added permanently to the Olympic program for the 2002 Winter Olympics, at which stage a women's race was added.ĭuring elite racing the rider experiences accelerations up to 5 g and reaches speeds over 130 km/h (81 mph). Previously, skeleton appeared in the Olympic program in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928 and again in 1948. Skeleton is the slowest of the three sliding sports, as skeleton's face-down, head-first riding position is less aerodynamic than luge's face-up, feet-first ride. The skeleton sled is thinner and heavier than the luge sled, and skeleton gives the rider more precise control of the sled. Like bobsleigh, but unlike luge, the race begins with a running start from the opening gate at the top of the course. Unlike other sliding sports of bobsleigh and luge, the race always involves single riders. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of the sled. Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or -sleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation