Hurtling down a mile of ice at speeds up to 95mph with only a few millimetres of fibreglass, a layer of lycra and a helmet as protection. Welcome to bobsleigh – Formula 1 on ice! Requiring a unique blend of speed, strength, skill and sheer guts, bobsleigh is quite unlike any other sport.

The world's first bobsleigh club was founded in 1897 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, prompting the growth of the sport across the winter resorts of Europe. The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleighs, so named because of the way crews bobbed back and forth to increase their speed at the start.

The first races were for 5 and 6 people and a requirement of the competition was that each crew included at least one woman. This requirement was dropped in the 1930s and the disciplines altered to 2 and 4 man events. It took over half a century before women made a return to international racing in the early 1990s with the debut of women bobsleighers at events in Europe and North America. Two man women’s bobsleigh made its debut at the 2000 World Championships and became part of the Olympic program at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Today, the world's top teams train year-round and compete mostly on artificial ice tracks in sleek, high-tech sleds made of fiberglass and steel.