Skeleton is one of the Olympic sport disciplines contested at the Winter Olympic Games. It was introduced at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz – the birthplace of skeleton – in the form of a men's event contested over four runs. Dropped from the 1932 and 1936 Winter Olympics program, skeleton returned in 1948, when St. Moritz hosted again the Winter Olympics, but was discarded from the following Games in Oslo. After 54 years of absence from the Olympic program, skeleton was reinstated as an official medal sport at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, featuring individual events for men and women.

In 1928, the first Olympic skeleton event was won by American sledder Jennison Heaton, who also won a silver medal in the bobsleigh's five-man event. His younger brother, John Heaton, was runner-up, spending an additional second to complete all three runs (the fourth was cancelled). He repeated this result 20 years later, placing behind Nino Bibbia of Italy, who won his country's first Winter Olympic gold medal.

In 2002, American sledder Jimmy Shea – grandson of Jack Shea, two-time Olympic speed skating champion at the 1932 Lake Placid Games – secured the gold medal by 0.05 seconds, becoming the first Olympic skeleton champion in 54 years. On the same day, another American, Tristan Gale, won the first-ever women's event in the discipline. In the 2006 Winter Olympics men's event, 39-year-old Canadian Duff Gibson beat countryman and world champion Jeff Pain to become the oldest individual gold medalist at the Winter Games. Switzerland's Gregor Stähli won the bronze medal for the second time, beating the third Canadian sledder, Paul Boehm, by 0.26 seconds and thus preventing a medal sweep for Canada. Four years later, Jon Montgomery secured a back-to-back victory for Canada in the men's event, while Amy Williams's win in the women's event gave Great Britain its only medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as its first individual gold medalist since 1980, and first individual female gold medalist since 1952. This victory was emulated four years later in Sochi by another British athlete, Lizzy Yarnold, who secured her country's second consecutive Olympic skeleton gold medal. The following day, Aleksandr Tretyakov – who had won Russia's first Olympic skeleton medal in Vancouver – beat the 2010 Olympic silver medalist Martins Dukurs of Latvia in the men's event to secure his first Olympic title.

The most successful Olympic skeleton athletes are a pair of British competitors, Lizzie Yarnold and Matt Weston, the only competitors as of 2026 to win two gold medals. Yarnold is the only person to defend an Olympic skeleton title, while Weston became the first and to date only athlete to win two golds at a single Games, which has become possible following the inclusion of mixed relay. The most decorated competitors as of 2026 are a trio of Germans, Christopher Grotheer, Axel Jungk and Jacqueline Pfeifer, all of whom have won three Olympic medals. As of 2026, Great Britain is the most successful National Olympic Committee (NOC) in Olympic skeleton, having won five gold medals, one silver and five bronze, and has collected gold medals in all three Olympic disciplines (the men's, women's and mixed team events).

Men 1928 St. Moritz1932–1936not included in the Olympic program1948 St. Moritz1952–1998not included in the Olympic program2002 Salt Lake City2006 Turin2010 Vancouver2014 Sochi2018 Pyeongchang2022 Beijing2026 Milan-Cortina Medals Rank Nation Gold Silver BronzeTotal122152210331214410345101261001100180202901010101110022120011Total 12 nations999 27

Women 2002 Salt Lake City2006 Turin2010 Vancouver2014 Sochi 2018 Pyeongchang 2022 Beijing 2026 Milan-Cortina Medals Rank Nation Gold Silver BronzeTotal131262132631203410011001601017001100110011Total 9 nations777 21

Mixed team 2026 Milan-Cortina Medals Rank Nation Gold Silver BronzeTotal1100120112Total 2 nations111 3

Overall medal table Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics.

Statistics Multiple medalists

Athlete NOC Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total2014–20182 0 0 220262 0 0 22022–20261 0 2 32010–20141 0 1 22022–20260 3 0 31928, 19480 2 0 22010–20140 2 0 220260 2 0 22018–20260 1 2 32002–20060 0 2 2

Medals per year

# Number of medals won by the NOC– NOC did not win any medals NOC 1924 28 32–36 48 52–98 02 06 10 14 18 22 26Total       1 1 1 12 1 1 3 1 4 2 1 3 6 121 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 11 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 1 2 32 1 3 2 8

See also IBSF World Championships (bobsleigh and skeleton) List of Skeleton World Cup champions

References Medalists

Citations