You control a skeleton sled almost entirely with your body , not with a steering wheel or brakes.

Quick Scoop

In skeleton, you ride head‑first on your stomach, and steer by making tiny, precise weight shifts. At 120+ km/h, even a small shoulder or head movement can change your line dramatically.

Basic steering: what you actually move

Think of the control system as “heads, shoulders, knees, and toes.”

  • Head
    • Slightly tilting or turning your head left or right shifts your weight and changes airflow, nudging the sled that way.
* Used for the smallest, most subtle corrections on sensitive sleds.
  • Shoulders
    • Gently leaning a shoulder down into the ice on one side loads that runner and steers the sled in that direction.
* This is a stronger input than the head, for shaping your line through medium to big curves.
  • Knees
    • Pressing a knee or thigh into the sled corner adds downward pressure, helping the sled bite and turn.
* Athletes use this to fine‑tune how hard they ride the wall or how quickly they exit a turn.
  • Toes/feet
    • Tapping a toe on the ice on the side you want to turn gives a more aggressive “anchor‑like” steer.
* Beginners use this more as a safety correction; advanced sliders turn it into tiny taps rather than big drags.

Simple mental model

  • Tiny head move = micro‑adjustment.
  • Shoulder lean = normal steer.
  • Knee pressure = “sharpen” the steer.
  • Toe tap = emergency or strong steer.

How you control speed (a bit)

Skeleton sleds have no built‑in brakes during the run. Control of speed is mostly indirect:

  • Line choice: smoother, higher lines keep speed; scrappy lines scrub it.
  • Extra steering: stronger toe drags or heavy steers create more friction and reduce speed, but cost time.
  • After the finish line, athletes use a separate brake mechanism or drag their feet to slow down in the outrun.

Technique during a run

From the moment you load on the sled:

  1. Set an aerodynamic position
    • Chin close to the ice, arms tucked, body long and still to minimize drag.
 * Stay relaxed enough that you can still feel the sled and ice.
  1. Read the track and anticipate
    • You learn specific “driving points” for each corner—where to start your steer, and where to release it.
 * You often begin a steer slightly before the corner fully builds, so the sled settles into the pressure instead of snapping.
  1. Use minimal, early inputs
    • Gentle, early head/shoulder moves are faster than big, late corrections that fight the pressure.
 * The idea is to guide the sled, not wrestle it.
  1. Let the sled run
    • In straight sections, go as still and flat as possible, only making micro corrections if it starts to drift.
 * The fastest runs look like “doing nothing” because the control is so subtle.

Safety and learning curve

  • Skeleton sleds are built low and stable with a low center of gravity to help control at high speed.
  • Athletes wear helmets and protective gear, and progress through gentler tracks and lower start points before attempting full‑speed runs.
  • It takes many runs on the same track to memorize how much steer you need in each corner and how your specific sled reacts.

In practice, “controlling” a skeleton sled is about learning to do less but earlier : tiny moves with your head, shoulders, knees, and toes that nudge the sled onto the line you want, then trusting it to run.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.