Skinner was born to mother Judith and father Scott,[1] the elder of two boys with a younger brother, Roy in Glasgow, Scotland.

[5] He did not get the opportunity to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London due to a lump in his neck in late 2011 which doctors initially thought was lymphoma.

[5] In January 2014 he won his first World Cup medal, placing third in the team sprint in Guadalajara,[5] and once again represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

[13] He won the silver medal in the men's individual sprint, beating Matthew Glaetzer 2–0 in the semi-final[8] but he was beaten 2–0 by defending champion Kenny in an all-British final.

He said that in 2019 he disclosed his mental health issues to a senior person at British Cycling, but that the official in question refused his request for time off to recover: he reflected that "that conversation finished me as a cyclist".