IBSF Season 2025-2026
Source: https://www.ibsf.org/en/
The origins of both Bobsleigh and Skeleton are deeply intertwined with the late 19th-century winter resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland, thanks to the adventurous spirit of wealthy Victorian British tourists.
🛷 Skeleton
- Origin: Skeleton is considered the older of the two racing sports, developing from the recreational popularity of tobogganing in St. Moritz.
- Early Days: In the early 1870s, guests began racing sleds down the narrow, icy streets. This eventually led to the construction of the Cresta Run in 1884 by Caspar Badrutt, the owner of the Palace Hotel, to provide a dedicated, safer track for his guests outside the town.
- The Name: The name “skeleton” is debated, but one common theory is that it was derived from the stripped-down, all-metal look of a new sled introduced in 1892, which resembled a human skeleton.
- Olympic History: Skeleton first appeared on the Olympic program twice in St. Moritz (1928 and 1948), before being permanently reintroduced to the Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
🏎️ Bobsleigh
- Origin: Bobsleigh developed after skeleton/tobogganing. It was created by attaching two of the early Cresta (skeleton) sleds together with a board and adding a steering mechanism at the front.
- The Name: The name “bobsleigh” (or bobsled) comes from the technique early competitors used of “bobbing” back and forth inside their sleds to try and increase speed on the straights.
- Early Clubs and Tracks: The first bobsled club was founded in St. Moritz in 1897, and the first purpose-built track solely for bobsleds opened in 1902 outside the town.
- Olympic History: Bobsleigh has a long Olympic tradition, having been featured since the very first Winter Games in 1924 (four-man event) in Chamonix, France. The two-man event was added in 1932, and the two-woman event made its Olympic debut in 2002.
Key Governing Body
- The international governing body for both sports is the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), which was originally founded in 1923 as the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT).
