Winter Olympics: What is skeleton and how does it work? - Everything you need to know about Britain’s most successful winter sport

The Winter Olympics bring sports we barely see outside of these few weeks. Many of them look exciting. Some of them look like a bad idea for normal people. A lot of these events mix speed, ice, height,

Skeleton is one of the fastest sports at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Here’s how the head-first sliding event works and who is competing for the U.S. (AP photo)

Although it may sound hard to believe, Puerto Rico, the island with a tropical climate, is participating in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, thanks to a Texan. Kellie Delka is the only athlete representing Puerto Rico at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in the sport of skeleton (where an athlete rides a sled upside down at high speeds on an ice track).

Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified for wearing a helmet honoring athletes killed in the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned by the IOC from competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics on Thursday, Feb. 12 because of his insistence on racing in a helmet depicting athletes who have been killed during Russia's invasion of his country.

Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics for “refusing to adhere” to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) athlete expression guidelines regarding his insistence on wearing a helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine in competition.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych will not be able to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games due to a disqualification imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).