Skeleton and bobsleigh are measured to the hundredth of a second, while luge is to a thousandth. Men's luge is the fastest of all the disciplines, but all three events can see athletes reach speeds of more than 80mph.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics underway, here's a guide on the high-speed sledding sports: luge, skeleton and bobsleigh.

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)

Just days before the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are set to begin, U.S. skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender is still fighting for a spot. The American is at the center of a controversy after the Canadian skeleton team made a decision at a recent race that ultimately cost her a sixth Olympic appearance.

The British skeleton team - among Team GB's best hopes for medals at the Winter Olympics - will not be able to wear their new helmets after the Court of Arbitration for Sport said they do not comply with the sport's rules around shape.

Team GB will not be allowed to wear brand new skeleton helmets after they lost a legal challenge. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) determined on January 29 that Team GB‘s innovative safety helmet – used in training for the first time last week – “does not comply” with their existing rules “based on its shape”.

While Britain does not tend to rank highly in Winter Olympic sports, in skeleton it has won a world-best nine Olympic medals, including three golds. Over the past ten years, my colleagues and I at the University of Bath have worked with Team GB skeleton athletes to help improve their starts, using a form of “markerless” motion capture technology.

Dan Barefoot picked up skeleton as a hobby in his mid-20s. Now, he'll compete with the best at the biggest stage.