[1] It was introduced at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz – the birthplace of skeleton[2] – in the form of a men's event contested over four runs.
His younger brother, John Heaton, was runner-up, spending an additional second to complete all three runs (the fourth was cancelled).
[3] He repeated this result 20 years later, placing behind Nino Bibbia of Italy, who won his country's first Winter Olympic gold medal.
[7] Four years later, Jon Montgomery secured a back-to-back victory for Canada in the men's event, while Amy Williams's win in the women's event gave Great Britain its only medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as its first individual gold medalist since 1980, and first individual female gold medalist since 1952.
[8] This victory was emulated four years later in Sochi by another British athlete, Lizzy Yarnold, who secured her country's second consecutive Olympic skeleton gold medal.