It doesn’t snow in Jamaica, Malta, or Ghana. Thailand and Malaysia hardly ever get a dusting. And nobody considers Spain, Colombia, Israel, Brazil, and Taiwan winter sports superpowers. But folks from these mostly warm locales are bundling up and sliding anyway.
Of those 10 nations, only Spain has thus far won any Winter Olympics medals. But all were part of a record turnout of 38 countries over the last two weeks at the world bobsled and skeleton championships in Lake Placid, New York. The large attendance shows that sliding sports are growing.
Luge, skeleton and bobsled are all sliding events on icy tracks. But luge athletes slide feet first on their backs. In skeleton, athletes take a running start and slide on their stomachs, headfirst. Bobsled (or bobsleigh) is typically more of a team sport, with athletes sitting in a sled while steering with ropes.
“I’m really happy that more nations are here,” says Adanna Johnson, a Jamaican. The 17-year-old women’s bobsled pilot competed in the monobob race (an individual event).
There are spots set aside at the Olympics for nations that are developing teams. That’s why there have been sliders from American Samoa, Bermuda, Greece, India, Ireland, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Tonga, and the Virgin Islands in the games over the years.
This phenomenon of sliding-sport dreamers likely took off after Jamaica sent a bobsled team to the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The underdog team became a fan favorite.
Skeleton athlete Jonathan Yaw wants to add Malaysia to the list of winter dreamers. He’s a former handball player from Australia who slides for Malaysia. He was born there, and it is his father’s homeland.
Yaw finished 29th at the world championships last week—out of 29 sleds. He wasn’t bothered. And he showed some progress. For example, he beat 2018 Olympian and 2026 hopeful Akwasi Frimpong of Ghana in the final run of the event.
“You know, in sport, sometimes you get the arrogance and the cockiness,” Yaw says. “I want to show people that you can be humble. You can just put your head down and work hard and still achieve good results and be a good role model for kids.”
Some countries are traditionally strong in sliding sports. Germany has long been the world’s most successful nation in bobsled, skeleton, and luge. The United States was the only nation to win more than one gold in the first week of the 2025 world championships. Austria, Italy, Britain, Switzerland, Latvia, and Canada are also among the nations that are usually strong.
Brazil’s Nicole Rocha Silveira won two women’s skeleton World Cup medals this season and finished fourth at the world championships. Ukraine nearly got its first skeleton medal at the world championships this year as well, with Vladyslav Heraskevych finishing fourth.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Yaw is looking for influence beyond the Olympics. A young girl in Lake Placid carries the first medal he ever won in a North American Cup race. He gave it to her to plant a seed.
“She actually started skeleton in Lake Placid because of that medal and because she met me,” Yaw says. “That brings me to tears. If I can do that for one kid, then on a platform like the Olympics or world championships, hopefully I’ll be able to do much more.”
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. — Titus 2:7
