The US was one of the top countries in skeleton up through 2002. The US medaled six times and won medals in each of the events up until 2002, but they haven’t medaled since. With three of the five athletes returning from Vancouver can the US use their experience to medal once again?
Skeleton’s Olympic History
Skeleton has a long Olympic history, but it’s very very sporadic. Skeleton was held in 1928 and 1948, but never again until 2002 when it was added to the program and remains to this day. The first two times it was only a men’s event but since 2002 it has involved a men’s and women’s event.
The US has won six of the 24 medals and three of the eight gold medals. Nine countries have medaled in skeleton with five of them winning gold medals.
How the Skeleton Competitions Work
Remember that skeleton is most similar to the luge in that both are small sleds that are ridden instead of a large sled that is ridden in (bobsleigh). The difference between skeleton and luge is that the skeleton is done face first instead of lying on the back. Their are only single rider competitions in skeleton, no two-person events.
The skeleton events are held over two days each and involve four runs for each athlete. The winner is the athletes whose total time is the lowest.
US Team
The team is made up of three men and two women. Three of the athletes are back from Vancouver while one was also part of the team in Turin.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
US Skeleton
Men:
Matt Antoine
John Daly*
Kyle Tress
Women:
Noelle Pikus-Pace*
Katie Uhlaender**
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
A Sochi 2014 Skeleton list on twitter including all of these athletes
US Team’s Olympic History
John Daly is the only returning US man from Vancouver. Daly finished in 17th place in Vancouver with none of his runs finishing any higher than 12th.
Both Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender were part of the US team in Vancouver. Uhlaender had three runs that were in the top ten but finished 11th overall. Pikus-Pace had four runs that were all in the top seven and finished fourth overall just a tenth of a second out of a medal.
Katie Uhlaender made her Olympic debut in Turin where she was the only US competitor. The race was only over two runs and she was sixth in both runs and sixth overall.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 13th
2:30 AM – Women’s Heat 1
3:40 AM – Women’s Heat 2
Friday, February 14th
7:30 AM – Men’s Heat 1
9:00 AM – Men’s Heat 2
10:40 AM – Women’s Heat 3
*11:50 AM – Women’s Heat 4
Saturday, February 15th
9:45 AM – Men’s Heat 3
*11:15 AM – Men’s Heat 4
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
Skeleton’s world championships are held as part of the FIBT World Championships. The most recent one took place in 2013 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
In the men’s skeleton event two of the American Olympians were part of the field. John Daly was the top American and finished in fifth place with less than six-tenths of a second separating him from the bronze medal. Matthew Antoine finished in 12th.
The women’s even featured both Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender. Pikus-Pace was the better of the two with a second place finish while Uhlaender came in seventh.
US Olympic History
On the men’s side the US won golds in two of the first three Olympics (yes they were separated by 74 years but still…) and silvers in the first two Olympics. The US has not medaled in the last two Olympics with their best finish in 2010 was a fifth place finish by Zach Lund.
In women’s skeleton the US grabbed gold and silver in the first event in Salt Lake City but have not medaled since. Noelle Pikus-Pace’s fourth place finish in 2010 nearly grabbed them a bronze.
