Who's Back

A few familiar names return for the women's competition.

Four-time Olympian Katie Uhlaender remains the top-ranked American woman in skeleton, finishing No. 13 following the 2021-22 World Cup season. She leads the sport's smallest U.S. Olympic team in 20 years, and is the only returning skeleton athlete from the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Since earning silver in the women's event, Jacqueline Loelling took fifth in the 2018-19 World Cup circuit, then first in 2019-20, and fourth in 2020-21. She won silver at the 2019 World Championships, gold in 2020, and silver again in 2021. Though she was selected for the 2022 Olympic team, Loelling's more inconsistent, recent results suggest she may not repeat as a medalist: The German finished tenth in the 2021-22 World Cup standings. 

Bronze medalist Laura Deas was fourth at the 2021 World Championships, 11th in 2020, and fifth in 2019. She plummeted to 20th in the 2021-22 World Cup rankings. 

New Faces

The United States' world No. 14 Kelly Curtis, 32, scraped into the second women's quota spot with a sixth-place finish at the last World Cup event in St. Mortiz. Curtis earned her ticket to the world's biggest sporting competition by a margin of just 24 points on the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation rankings.

The sole U.S. men's skeleton slider headed into the Games, 32-year-old Olympic newcomer Andrew Blaser ranked world No. 28 at the time of selection -- ahead of three-time Olympian John Daly. 

 

Who's Gone

None of the skeleton men's medalists from the PyeongChang 2018 Games will appear at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Since taking gold in the men's event in PyeongChang, South Korea's Yun Sung-Bin picked up a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships, finished second in the 2018-19 World Cup circuit and third in the 2019-20 edition. He has not competed since, and did not qualify for the skeleton team.

Russian racer Nikita Tregubov, the 2018 silver medalist, took silver at the 2018 European Championships and silver at the 2019 World Championships. He finished fourth in the 2018-19 World Cup circuit, 10th for 2019-20 and third for 2020-21. Though he qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tregubov tested positive for COVID in late January and was not allowed to fly.

Britain's bronze medalist Dominic Parsons retired from competition in December 2019. 

Additionally, the winner of the women's competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Lizzy Yarnold, retired in October of that year due to complications from a tumor in her knee.

Since only one men's quota spot was available for the United States, three-time U.S. Olympian John Daly will not appear at the 2022 Winter Olympics.