Video: Skeleton Rider Just Misses the Dang Sled

How do you just miss the sled?!

I’m having trouble thinking of another sports screw-up to compare to what Russian skeleton racer Aleksandr Tretyakov did on Friday. 

Why did Tretyakov, who won gold at the last Olympics before his medal was snatched as a result of the Russian doping scandal, end up finishing last at the European Championship? Well...

Russian Alexander Tretiakov, who has been stripped of his Sochi skeleton gold medal and banned from the Olympics for life, with an incredible blunder to start today's World Cup race, which he said afterward may have been his last. pic.twitter.com/P35Wq2dStq

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) December 15, 2017

Like, what’s the major-sport equivalent of that? Jameis Winston’s fumble against Oregon was equally inept, but it’s just one play in a 60-minute football game. Even Tony Romo’s fumbled snap against Seahawks isn’t as impactful.

In team sports, there’s always a chance to make up for your mistake, or, if it’s too late, admit you could have put yourself in a better position by making plays earlier. The Red Sox even had a Game 7 to play after Bill Buckner’s error. In an individual, timed sport like skeleton, you have no one but yourself to blame. And if you screw up at the beginning, you’re done. 

Then you have to ride down the track knowing it doesn’t matter.