Everything you need to know about skeleton, the Olympic sport that sends athletes hurtling head first down icy tracks at 90 miles an hour

Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

• Skeleton is a Winter Olympics sport that dates back to the 1880s.
• Events take place on a track made of ice. In Pyeongchang, the skeleton track is 1,376 meters long. 
• Skeleton athletes push sleds as fast as they can, then jump on and speed head first down the track, using minor shifts in body weight to steer.
• They can slide at speeds greater than 90 miles per hour. 
• It's really rough on the body.

There is no shortage of intense sports at the Winter Olympics. Snowboarding is famous for its crashes. Cross-country skiing is so brutal that skiers collapse the moment they cross the finish line. Figure skating moves bring skaters' heads within inches of the ice. 

But skeleton — in which athletes slide head first down an icy track at 90 miles per hour — might be in a class of its own. See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Here's how extreme future Olympic sports could be on the Moon

See Also:

• WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Olympic figure skating stars of the '90s
• Olympian Gus Kenworthy posted videos of a massive blood-filled bump on his hip — after also breaking his thumb
• 30 mesmerizing photos that show how different figure skating looks from above