List of Olympic medalists in skeleton
Skeleton is one of the Olympic sport disciplines contested at the Winter Olympic Games.[1] It was introduced at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz – the birthplace of skeleton[2] – in the form of a men's event contested over four runs.[3] 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.[2]
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).[3] He repeated this result 20 years later, placing behind Nino Bibbia of Italy, who won his country's first Winter Olympic gold medal.[4]
In 2002, American sledder Jimmy Shea – grandson of Jack Shea, two-time Olympic speed skating champion at the 1932 Lake Placid Games[5] – 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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10]
Having won two medals in an equal number of contests, Lizzy Yarnold, John Heaton, Gregor Stähli, Martins Dukurs and Aleksandr Tretyakov are the joint medal leaders in Olympic skeleton. Yarnold stands above them for winning gold at different games, the only person to defend an Olympic skeleton title.[11] 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
| Medals | |||||
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Germany | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Russia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 | Latvia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Olympic Athletes from Russia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 | Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12 | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 12 nations | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
Women
| Medals | |||||
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | Germany | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | United States | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Austria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Russia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 9 nations | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
Mixed team
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Milan-Cortina |
Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston (GBR) |
Susanne Kreher and Axel Jungk (GER) |
Jacqueline Pfeifer and Christopher Grotheer (GER) |
| Medals | |||||
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 2 nations | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Overall medal table
Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Britain | 5 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| 2 | United States | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Germany | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 4 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Austria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Russia | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| 8 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | Latvia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Olympic Athletes from Russia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13 | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (14 entries) | 17 | 17 | 17 | 51 | |
Statistics
Multiple medalists
| Athlete | NOC | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lizzy Yarnold | Great Britain | 2014–2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Matt Weston | Great Britain | 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Christopher Grotheer | Germany | 2022–2026 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Aleksandr Tretyakov | Russia | 2010–2014 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Axel Jungk | Germany | 2022–2026 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| John Heaton | United States | 1928, 1948 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Martins Dukurs | Latvia | 2010–2014 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Susanne Kreher | Germany | 2026 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Jacqueline Pfeifer | Germany | 2018–2026 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Gregor Stähli | Switzerland | 2002–2006 | 0 | 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 | 26 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| Austria | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | |||
| China | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| Canada | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 4 | |||
| Germany | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 1 | 3 | 6 | 12 | |||
| Great Britain | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | – | 2 | 11 | |||
| Italy | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| Latvia | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | |||
| Netherlands | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| Olympic Athletes from Russia | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | |||
| Russia | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | 3 | |||
| South Korea | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | |||
| Switzerland | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | |||
| United States | 2 | 1 | 3 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | 8 |
See also
References
- Medalists
- "Skeleton". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- Citations
- ^ "Sports". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ a b "Skeleton Equipment and History". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on January 13, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 1928 Sankt Moritz Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 1948 Sankt Moritz Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
- ^ "Shea Family Legacy". US SHEA.com. Shea Enterprises. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Duff Gibson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Skeleton at the 2006 Torino Winter Games: Men's Skeleton". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
- ^ "Amy Williams wins historic gold medal at Winter Olympics". The Bath Chronicle. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ Hope, Nick (14 February 2014). "Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ "Sochi 2014: Alexander Tretiakov wins men's skeleton gold". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 15 February 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ "Lizzy Yarnold Wins Gold 2018". bbc.co.uk. 17 February 2018. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2018.