matthew antoine

Olympic bronze medalist and World Championship gold medalist Matthew Antoine is a skeleton racer from the United States. In the mixed team competition at the 2012 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, Antoine took home the gold. His first-place finish in a World Cup race at Lake Placid in December 2013 is among his greatest achievements. At the Skeleton World Cup for 2013–14, he finished third overall. The first American medal in men’s skeleton since Jimmy Shea’s gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics was won by Antoine at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

After winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Antoine was considered one of the best sliders in the world; however, he had come to feel that his way of life was hollow, and this bothered him. In his beloved sport, Antoine felt trapped. Situational depression, a form of adjustment disorder linked to stress, was Antoine’s condition. He moved to the city of Phoenix in Arizona, which was as distant as he could get from skeleton, both symbolically and geographically. He purchased a home, a golden retriever, and a new way of life. He spent two years repairing “the worst house on the street,” a hobby that allowed him to divert his attention from skeleton. Antoine went on to make his second U.S. Olympic team appearance in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.