‘Based off instincts’: Team Canada skeleton athlete gives insight into the sport

Sébastien Régnier, Métis athlete, talks skeleton racing, gear, and who to watch at the Olympics, with sled and equipment on hand.

We are in the midst of the Milan Cortina Olympics, bringing a global viewership and new audiences to the sport of skeleton.

The winter sliding sport involves an athlete on a sled descending face down an icy track at 130 to 140 km/h.

Team Canada skeleton athlete Sébastien Régnier, who had to sit out of this year’s games due to a hamstring injury, said skeleton is all about speed.

“Skeleton, just like bobsleigh, you sprint into the track with your sled, get in and then you drive down,” he explained.

“So obviously, being fast at the start is the biggest key performance indicator of you being good at the sport.”

The Manitoba-born athlete said the sport is hard to describe to those who haven’t done it, especially when it comes to reaching high speeds.

“Things come at you so fast that you don’t really have time to look or process sometimes. It’s more just based off instincts,” Régnier said.

“But it takes a lot of runs to build up that instinct, so sometimes you take some bumps and bruises along the way to learn how to go faster.”

Régnier sustained his injury during training camp, which impacted the start of his season, including Olympic qualifiers. Still, he is hoping to make it to the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.

“I definitely have some FOMO, like fear of missing out,” Régnier said, referring to this year’s Olympics.

“But you know what? Being relatively new to the sport—like, this is the middle of my third season, so just over two years of sliding—I didn’t necessarily expect to make the games this year.”

Team Canada’s skeleton team is set to compete in Milano Cortina beginning on Thursday.

With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé