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Skeleton's format has changed since 2006. In Vancouver, athletes will take four runs each - twice as many as in Torino. While the competition may be different, the cast of characters is largely the same -- four of the six athletes who stood on the medal podium four years ago are back to defend their Olympic hardware. To do so they'll have to fend off familiar rivals as well as emerging challengers. Below is a look at the top skeleton storylines to watch in Vancouver.
American redemption
After winning half the medals awarded at the Salt Lake Games, the U.S. skeleton squad had a rough time in Torino. Noelle Pikus-Pace, who in 2005 became the first American woman to win the World Cup title, was struck by an errant bobsled in Calgary four months before the Games and suffered a compound fracture of her lower right leg. Her remarkable comeback effort fell just short of an Olympic spot, but Pikus-Pace returned to claim the world title three years ago - another first for a U.S. woman - and remains an outside medal contender for 2010. Katie Uhlaender, who finished a solid sixth as the lone U.S. woman in Torino, dominated the sport in the two seasons afterwards, winning back-to-back World Cup titles. And although she lost her father to cancer right before the 2009 World Championships and struggled to reach the podium in this season's World Cup, Uhlaender is expected to return at full force for the Olympic season. Like Pikus-Pace, Zach Lund had a heartbreaking Olympic experience, learning on the eve of the Games that a doping suspension would cost him his spot on the U.S. team. But he too made the most of the following season, winning the World Cup title.
Mom squad
As the Vancouver Games approach, Pikus-Pace is making a comeback of another sort: she missed the 2007-08 season to have her first child, daughter Lacee, and spent much of last season playing catch-up. But she isn't the only member of skeleton's mom squad. Swiss slider Maya Pedersen, the defending Olympic champion, has added a second child, daughter Sigrid, to her family. And Torino silver medalist Shelley Rudman had her first: a daughter named Ella. Both Sigrid and Ella have sliding dads as well. Pederson's husband, Snorre, used to compete for Norway and now serves as her coach. Ella's dad is Kristan Bromley, the two-time World Cup champion - nicknamed "Dr. Ice" - who will compete in his third Games in Vancouver.
Germans gaining ground
Germany has long been the dominant country in the other Olympic sliding sports, luge and bobsled , but has yet to win an Olympic medal in skeleton. Now-retired Diana Sartor was fourth in both Salt Lake and Torino. Kerstin Szymkowiak might have been favored for gold in 2006 - she won the Olympic test event (then competing under her maiden name, Juergens) and held the track record - but at the last minute she was left off the German team. Since then, women from Germany have won the last two world titles: Anja Huber two seasons ago and Marion Trott in 2009. And at each of those championships, Szymkowiak won bronze. At the Whistler World Cup, Trott and Huber further asserted themselves as Olympic medal favorites, finishing first and third. Szymkowiak -- who won five overall medals in this season's World Cup, including two gold - says the recent success of the German women has come because they have learned to work together and really consider themselves a team - they talk and help each other whenever they can. "But of course in the race everyone is against each other," she allows.
Canadian contingent
The home team typically holds an advantage in skeleton, entering the Games having logged more training time on the Olympic track than competitors from other countries. And Canada is coming off a successful Olympic effort already, having claimed three medals in Torino. While 2006 Olympic champion Duff Gibson will watch his Torino teammates as an announcer in the CTV broadcast booth, both Jeff Pain (silver) and Mellisa Hollingsworth (bronze) return as medal threats. Meanwhile Jon Montgomery, a 30-year-old auto auctioneer and salesman, has surfaced as a top contender -- he won the Whistler World Cup on the Olympic track last season. But Canada's favorite to win a skeleton gold medal is Mellisa Hollingswort. The 2006 Olympic bronze medalist won seven medals during eight World Cup stops this season to win the overall Cup crown. Heading into the Games, Hollingsworth is ranked no. 1 in the world, ahead of Rudman in second and Szykowiak in third.
Latvian surprise
Martins Dukurs of Latvia emerged as the Olympic medal favorite during this season's World Cup. The 25-year-old slider, who finished seventh in Torino, was nearly unbeatable throughout competition to earn seven total medals, including four gold, for the overall 2010 title. In Vancouver, he'll be in excellent position to bring home Latvia's first-ever Olympic skeleton medal.
