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If you have ever been on a sled you know the exhilarating feel of the wind in your face as you whoosh down a snowy slope. Now imagine shooting downhill headfirst at about 80 miles per hour with your legs hanging out the back end of a sled that looks like you outgrew it. That’s exactly what the athletes do in the Olympic sport of Skeleton!

How did this sport come to be called Skeleton? All sleds were originally made of wood. When the first all-metal sled for this sport was made in 1892 people thought it looked like a skeleton and the name stuck.

A Skeleton race begins with an all-out sprint as the athletes race to dive onto their sleds for the headfirst ride down the course. The racers wear sprinter style shoes with spikes for good traction. The toes of the shoes are coated with something that U.S. Skeleton racer Lea Ann Parsley calls “shoo goo”. Since the sleds don’t have brakes, the athletes drag their toes after the finish line to stop. And while that’s pretty rough on the toes, the shoes would outright disintegrate without the “goo”!

With a skeleton racer’s face just 2 inches off the ice or actually on the ice in a high G-force curve, their most important piece of equipment is their helmet. The specially adapted ski helmets help protect the athletes with a chin guard and face shield. The face shield is coated with an anti-fog solution so that it won’t become clouded. When you’re racing 80 miles an hour down an icy track, you need to see where you’re going!

And talking about traveling at high speeds–in cold weather that can mean a wind chill of minus 85 degrees! While the skintight racing suits are designed for aerodynamic speed, they really don’t provide much warmth. With the risk of frostbite, each athlete makes sure that all the seams on the suit are intact before they start racing. Just one small rip can create one big problem.

Finally, the sled itself is obviously a key piece of equipment. Made of authentic stainless steel, the runners or blades must be polished with sandpaper to remove scratches and nicks in the metal that could slow the sled down. As no wax or grease of any kind is allowed on the runners, each one is wiped down with acetone to remove any grit or other materials.

From spiked shoes and “shoo goo” to protective helmets, aerodynamic suits and polished sled runners…is there something we’ve forgotten that a Skeleton athlete needs? How about skill and courage! Bravo to United States team members Tristan Gale and Lea Ann Parsley, the gold and silver medal winners of the women’s Skeleton and to Jimmy Shea, the gold medal winner of the men’s competition.