Skeleton involves a person riding a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down. The sport is a more intense form of luge because skeleton competitors leap onto the sled and slide downhill head first. Skeleton athletes can reach up to 80 mph on straightaways, causing forces up to 5g, so the helmet is a critical component for attitude as well as safety.

“Romain de Tirtoff (23 November 1892 – 21 April 1990) was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, the French pronunciation of his initials, R.T. He was a diversely talented 20th-century artist and designer who flourished in an array of fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor”. – Wikipedia. Photo: Romain de Tirtoff (Erte) – “Symphony In Black” (please click to enlarge).

A young man dressed as “La Llorona”, participates in a parade called “La Calabiuza” on the eve of the Day of the Dead in Tonacatepeque, El Salvador, November 1, 2019. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

Fisherman Jose Miguel Perez, whose nickname is “Taliban”, navigates the oil infested waters of Lake Maracaibo, near Cabimas, Venezuela, May 21, 2019. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout of Venezuela's collapsing oil industry as the fishermen who scratch out an existence on the blackened, sticky shores of Lake Maracaibo. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

David Nickerson, 24, rides a wave dressed as Mrs Doubtfire during the 7th annual ZJ Boarding House Haunted Heats Halloween surf contest. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

An employee builds up the figure of the Queen of Hearts from the movie Alice in Wonderland (2010) in the immersive exhibition “Tim Burton's Labyrinth” in Berlin on July 8, 2024. From July 19, 2024, the international exhibition ”Tim Burton's Labyrinth” can be experienced at the Radsetzerei in Berlin. (Photo by Ronny Hartmann/AFP Photo)

Madina Zhanuzakova wears Simon Rocha, Shushi Thong, Moschino and Miu Miu to the Coach show during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in New York, New York on September 9, 2024. (Photo by Sara Konradi for The Washington Post)

Contestants compete in the swimsuit segment of the Miss Venezuela 2012 pageant in Caracas August 30, 2012. The winner of the competition will participate in the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)