What to know about skeleton at the Winter Olympics: Hurtling head first down an icy chute on a sled

Former U.S. skeleton athlete John Daly was once asked why anyone would decide to hurl themselves, head first, down an ice-coated mountainside chute on a thin sled with no safety equipment other than a helmet.

Daly laughed. “If I knew that, I probably wouldn't be out here,” he said.

Skeleton will be the sport for thrill-seekers to watch during the Milan Cortina Olympics. Not everyone can skate, not everyone has been on skis, very few would dare to try ski jumping, but anyone who has ever played in the snow probably knows the feeling of what skeleton athletes get on race day. It's the thrill of being on a sled, picking up speed, trying to figure out how to steer without having anything to steer with, then getting up and doing it all over again.

It's been in the Olympics since 1928, but took two long hiatuses and returned to the program in 2002.

Skeleton is the head-first sliding sport. Races begin with the sled on the ice, and the slider grabbing one of its handles, usually with one hand. The slider runs about 30 meters or so to build up speed, then leaps onto the sled and settles in for a ride that can exceed 80 mph (129 kph) down the track. Athletes steer with subtle shifts of their body and legs, all while their chins are often no more than a few inches from the surface of the ice.

There might not be a bigger gold-medal favorite at the Milan Cortina Games than British men’s skeleton athlete Matt Weston, the world champion who has simply dominated most World Cup and international fields. He was only 15th at the Beijing Games, then has gone gold-silver-gold in the last three world championships. In the women’s race, there are a slew of medal favorites and the sentimental choice might be Austrian great Janine Flock, maybe the top female skeleton racer ever, but she has yet to win an Olympic medal or a world championships gold. And in the debut of the mixed team skeleton event at the Olympics, watch Americans Mystique Ro and Austin Florian, the reigning world champions in that race.

Competition will take place from Feb. 12-15 at the Cortina Sliding Center.

Jimmy Shea and Tristan Gale won gold for the U.S. when the sport returned to the Olympic program at Salt Lake City in 2002. Shea was racing shortly after the death of his grandfather, Olympic speedskater Jack Shea, who won two gold medals at Lake Placid in 1932, and Jimmy Shea’s father Jim was an Olympic skier for the U.S. in 1964. Canada’s Jon Montgomery went from national here to national legend at the 2010 Vancouver Games when he won gold in the men’s skeleton race. On his way to an interview afterwards, an onlooker handed him a pitcher of beer and he promptly chugged about half of it.

The sport dates to the late 19th century, and its rather unusual name is believed to come from how the first metal sleds built for the sport had a bony, skeletal appearance. Skeleton was in the 1928 and 1948 Olympic programs, then fell into obscurity before it was revived as a World Cup sport and returned to the Olympics in 2002.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - Austin Florian, of The United States, prepares for the start of a training run for the men's World Cup Skeleton event in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. Competition begins on Saturday. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

FILE - Mystique Ro, of the United States, poses with her second place trophy during the medal ceremony at the skeleton world championships, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Lake Placid, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Matt Weston of Great Britain celebrates after winning the men's skeleton at the Skeleton World Cup race in Igls, near Innsbruck, Austria, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

FILE - Janine Flock, of Austria, slides during the women's skeleton run 3 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it for weeks, a U.S. official said.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. The official said the U.S. military seized the vessel and handed over control to law enforcement officials.

The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

In a post to social media, U.S. European Command confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro tracked the ship ahead of its seizure “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court.”

The military command went on to say that the seizure supported President Donald Trump’s proclamation on targeting sanctioned vessels that “threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.”

The ship was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela. The ship refused boarding and headed across the Atlantic.

The ship, once known as the Bella 1, was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show.

Earlier Wednesday, open-source maritime tracking sites showed its position as between Scotland and Iceland, traveling north. The U.S. official also confirmed the ship was in the North Atlantic.

U.S. military planes have flown over the vessel, and on Tuesday a Royal Air Force surveillance plane was shown on flight-tracking sites flying over the same area.

The tanker's seizure comes just days after U.S. military forces conducted a surprise nighttime raid on Venezuela’s capital of Caracas and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

In the wake of this raid, Trump administration officials have said that they intended to continue to seize sanctioned vessels connected to the country.

A local walks past a mural featuring oil pumps and wells in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A government supporter holds an image of President Nicolas Maduro during a women's march to demand his return in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, three days after U.S. forces captured him and his wife. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)