For most of us, a thrilling day at work consists of a free bagel platter or an extra-long lunch. For 24-year-old Matt Antoine, another day on the job involves hurtling face-first down an ice chute at speeds over 80 mph. Antoine is an Olympic skeleton slider—think sledding on steroids. Skeleton athletes lie belly-down on a sled and shoot to the bottom of a bobsled track while wearing Spandex jumpsuits and helmets that wouldn’t look out of place at a Daft Punk concert. “We like to call it controlled chaos,” Antoine says.
During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, skeleton returned to the games from a 54-year hiatus. Antoine was just a junior in high school watching from home in Prairie du Chien, Wis. “I had a go-kart growing up and I enjoyed snowboarding, but I didn’t do anything that I would consider dangerous,” he says.
Antoine was intrigued by the high-octane sport, and the American team’s success—the U.S. skeleton sliders won gold in both men’s and women’s categories. He immediately contacted the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and tried out for a skeleton driving school. He was cut the first time but tried out again the following winter and was accepted into the program in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Training was more straightforward than Antoine anticipated. “They give you a sled, about five minutes of instructions, and then push you off at the half-mile start,” he says. “The only thing you actually learn that week is how to make it down, not how to drive or do well. It’s fast, it’s bumpy, and it’s a lot rougher on the body than you would expect.” Antoine’s first skeleton sliding experience wasn’t exactly smooth. “When I first went off the top, I really had no idea what was going on,” he says. “I tried to keep track of what turn I was in, but that lasted until about the fifth curve. I hit numerous walls, probably should’ve crashed more than once, got a lot of bruises, but when it was over, I knew I liked it.”
Antoine was juggling a hectic routine balancing his college education and newfound love of skeleton sliding—he transferred schools several times and took six years to graduate. “My schedule was basically to train and slide all day long. Then after dinner I would grab my books and my computer and sit myself down,” Antoine says. He completed his last two years of school online to work around his breakneck training regimen, and earned a degree in fitness and wellness from the California University of Pennsylvania.
As his training progressed, he rapidly rose in the world skeleton rankings and started to compete abroad—often in places where skeleton sliding is wildly popular. “The sliding sports are huge in Germany,” Antoine says. “The German sliders are stars in their country. I even get fan mail from followers in Germany. It’s a bit different than here.”
In his first men’s skeleton World Cup competition last February, Antoine stunned the international field by getting bronze. He then moved up to the World Cup circuit after winning gold in the Lake Placid Intercontinental Cup. These victories won him the 2009 Men’s Skeleton Athlete of the Year, Men’s Skeleton Athletes’ Choice, and the Skeleton Rookie of the Year awards.
Now the No. 1 ranked skeleton slider in the U.S. and the No. 8 ranked in the world, Antoine is preparing for the new sliding season and the team selection process for the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of 24, Antoine’s career is just getting started. “Our world champion this past season was 41,” he says. “As for me, I have no idea what I’m even doing tomorrow, so I’ll take it all in stride and see where it goes.”
Direct link to this page: http://orgs.l3.drake.edu/drake-mag/folks/Matt-Antoine.html
During the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, skeleton returned to the games from a 54-year hiatus. Antoine was just a junior in high school watching from home in Prairie du Chien, Wis. “I had a go-kart growing up and I enjoyed snowboarding, but I didn’t do anything that I would consider dangerous,” he says.
Antoine was intrigued by the high-octane sport, and the American team’s success—the U.S. skeleton sliders won gold in both men’s and women’s categories. He immediately contacted the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and tried out for a skeleton driving school. He was cut the first time but tried out again the following winter and was accepted into the program in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Training was more straightforward than Antoine anticipated. “They give you a sled, about five minutes of instructions, and then push you off at the half-mile start,” he says. “The only thing you actually learn that week is how to make it down, not how to drive or do well. It’s fast, it’s bumpy, and it’s a lot rougher on the body than you would expect.” Antoine’s first skeleton sliding experience wasn’t exactly smooth. “When I first went off the top, I really had no idea what was going on,” he says. “I tried to keep track of what turn I was in, but that lasted until about the fifth curve. I hit numerous walls, probably should’ve crashed more than once, got a lot of bruises, but when it was over, I knew I liked it.”
Antoine was juggling a hectic routine balancing his college education and newfound love of skeleton sliding—he transferred schools several times and took six years to graduate. “My schedule was basically to train and slide all day long. Then after dinner I would grab my books and my computer and sit myself down,” Antoine says. He completed his last two years of school online to work around his breakneck training regimen, and earned a degree in fitness and wellness from the California University of Pennsylvania.
As his training progressed, he rapidly rose in the world skeleton rankings and started to compete abroad—often in places where skeleton sliding is wildly popular. “The sliding sports are huge in Germany,” Antoine says. “The German sliders are stars in their country. I even get fan mail from followers in Germany. It’s a bit different than here.”
In his first men’s skeleton World Cup competition last February, Antoine stunned the international field by getting bronze. He then moved up to the World Cup circuit after winning gold in the Lake Placid Intercontinental Cup. These victories won him the 2009 Men’s Skeleton Athlete of the Year, Men’s Skeleton Athletes’ Choice, and the Skeleton Rookie of the Year awards.
Now the No. 1 ranked skeleton slider in the U.S. and the No. 8 ranked in the world, Antoine is preparing for the new sliding season and the team selection process for the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of 24, Antoine’s career is just getting started. “Our world champion this past season was 41,” he says. “As for me, I have no idea what I’m even doing tomorrow, so I’ll take it all in stride and see where it goes.”
Direct link to this page: http://orgs.l3.drake.edu/drake-mag/folks/Matt-Antoine.html