Winter Olympics 2018: What is the difference between Skeleton and Luge?

Skeleton and the luge are very similar Winter Olympic events, so what makes these track sports different from one another?

Part of what makes the Winter Olympics fun is the unique sports you get to see every four years. It’s not often you’re sitting down on the couch to watch bobsleigh or curling.

Two of the most popular, and fastest sports, are luge and skeleton. In both sports, athletes hurl themselves down an icy chute and reach speeds of around 80 MPH.

But what makes these sports different?

Basically, it comes down to orientation on the sled. In luge, competitors go down feet first, like normal sane people. There is even a double luge where two people jump on the sled and ride down at ridiculous speeds.

As for the skeleton, a single competitor hurls themselves down the chute head first, like some kind of crazy adrenaline junkie.

Luge riders also ride on their back, while skeleton riders are laying on their chest.

Both sports are scored the same way. In luge and skeleton, each competitor will have four runs all timed. The four times will be added together and the fastest total time will determine the winner. In luge, the runs are measured down to the thousandth of a second while it’s measured to the hundredth of a second in skeleton.

If a rider in either sport leaves the sled, they can get back on and for the time to count they need to be on the sled when crossing the finish line.

The size of the sleds in the two sports is different as well. In luge, a singles sled weighs between 46.3-55.1 pounds, while a doubles sled weighs between 55.1-66.1 pounds. In skeleton, men’s sleds may not exceed 95 pounds, while women have a 77 pounds threshold.

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In luge, lighter riders are allowed to carry additional weights to act as a ballast, up to 28.6 pounds for men and 22 pounds for women. There is no maximum weight for athletes.

In skeleton, there is a weight limit for the combination of the sled, athlete and race equipment. That limit is 254 pounds for men and 204 pounds for women. If the maximum weight is exceeded, the maximum weight of the sled is lowered, 73 pounds for men and 64 pounds for women.

And like luge, skeleton riders are allowed to use ballast weights to reach the maximum allowable total.

In luge, men and women compete on the same track but women start further down the course. At the 2018 games, the men’s course is about .84 miles and the women’s course is about .75 miles In the team relay event, all sleds start from the women’s start. In skeleton, both genders ride down the same track for the same length.