Venue: Sanki Sliding Center
Gold medals on offer: 2
Dates: Thursday February 13 – Saturday February 15
Runners: The two round bevelled blades on which the skeleton runs, they are polished before every run
Line: The best or most efficient route around a track. The high line takes a sled closer to the edge, while the low line takes a sled closer to the bottom edge
Speed suit: Athletes wear a close-fitting and aerodynamic suit and cleated shoes that enable them to grip the ice during the crucial push start
The first competitive skeleton race was organised between the Swiss towns of St Moritz and Celerina in 1884. The winner received a bottle of champagne.
British Skeleton’s chairman Lord Clifton Wrottesley – who finished fourth for Ireland at Salt Lake City 2002 and was the nation’s Chef de Mission at Turin 2006 – has won the Cresta Run’s prestigious Brabazon Trophy a record 12 times.
Team GB have won medals at the past two Olympic Winter Games in Skeleton, with Shelley Rudman winning SILVER at Turin in 2006 and Amy Williams famously winning GOLD at Vancouver in 2010.
Team GB will have four sliders cometing at Sochi 2014, click here to see who they are.