Video Lesson

How skeleton racing began

Switzerland, where some adrenaline loving Brits decided that toboggoning wasn't quite enough for them. On the famous icy slopes known as the Crest Run, they went head first down...

Course: Champions and bold adventuresSection: Trying skeleton racingSubtitles: en

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41 subtitle cues

2:43

Samurit,

2:43

Switzerland, where some adrenaline

2:44

loving Brits decided that toboggoning

2:46

wasn't quite enough for them. On the

2:48

famous icy slopes known as the Crest

2:50

Run, they went head first down the track

2:52

and instead of steering with fancy

2:54

equipment, they just used their

2:55

shoulders and body weight to career down

2:57

the ice at breakneck speeds. Mad as it

3:00

sounds, the sport found legitimacy and

3:02

it appeared in the 1928 and 1948 Winter

3:05

Olympic Game. Both of these events were

3:07

on the original track in San Morettes.

3:09

It wasn't until 2002 in Salt Lake City,

3:12

Utah, that the skeleton flew back into

3:14

the picture of both men's and women's

3:16

event. But let's be honest, what we

3:18

really want to know is what does it

3:20

actually feel like to fly down an ice

3:22

track at 19

3:24

mph? Going head first down the track at

3:26

that speed is pretty amazing. Like the

3:29

feeling you get when you're on a nice

3:31

line is unlike anything else. It's so

3:33

hard to describe. Luckily, I've never

3:35

come off and and lost my sled too badly,

3:37

but there's been some there's been some

3:39

times where I've hit some walls pretty

3:40

hard and you can't really walk straight

3:42

afterwards. It's called skeleton.

3:44

Actually, that brings me nicely onto

3:46

this because this rib cage kind of looks

3:50

like a the rib cage of a skeleton. So,

3:53

that's kind of half the reason why.

3:54

There's also other stories that it looks

3:56

like the skeleton of a bob sleigh. So,

3:59

there's a few different stories why, but

4:01

um it's not because when you go down

4:02

it's so risky you might die and become a

4:04

skeleton.

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