Section 4: Players & Officials
4.1 Athlete Qualifications
- Individual competition only (no team events in skeleton)
- Athletes must hold a valid IBSF license and be registered by their national federation
- Minimum age: 18 for World Cup and Olympic competition
- Athletes must complete a minimum number of training runs on the competition track before racing (typically 3–6 official training runs over 2–3 days)
- Olympic quotas: maximum 3 athletes per nation per gender, based on IBSF world rankings
4.2 Officials and Jury
- Jury: IBSF Technical Delegate, Race Director, Jury President — oversee all aspects of competition
- Start officials: Verify start procedure, confirm athlete and sled positioning, control start signal
- Track officials: Positioned at key curves to monitor athlete passage and report incidents via radio
- Equipment controllers: Weigh sleds and athletes before and after each run; check runner temperatures; inspect sled compliance
- Timekeepers: Electronic timing to 1/100th of a second. Split times recorded at 3–5 intermediate points along the track.
- Video officials: Review footage from track cameras for rule violations, interference, or safety incidents
4.3 Start Order
- Runs 1 and 3: Start order based on IBSF world ranking (highest-ranked athletes start first for better ice conditions)
- Runs 2 and 4: Reverse order of standings after the previous run (leader slides last)
- In World Cup events, the top 20 after runs 1–2 advance to runs 3–4
- Athletes have a 60-second window to start once the track is declared clear