Ones to Watch: Daniel Barefoot

Picture riding headfirst, going down an ice track at 85 miles per hour. That’s the sport of skeleton. A man from Western Pennsylvania is one of two men competing in the Winter Olympics in Milan for Team USA.

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Daniel Barefoot played traditional sports growing up near Johntown in the suburb of Geistown. His path into the sport of skeleton was unusual, and started with an online search.

“‘Let’s look up winter sports. I wonder if there’s anything recreationally I can do around here,’” Barefoot said about his initial plan.

That curiosity led him to skeleton nine years ago. A lot of hard work in between, and now he’s at the top of his game, headed to the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Barefoot is already in Europe training, but took some time to talk to WPXI over Zoom.

“You’ll have these spikes of random emotions like ‘oh my gosh,’ you kind of panic, knowing you’re doing this for the Olympics,” said Barefoot.

Training for skeleton was not something he did while growing up and attending Richland High School and then Penn State. He started in the sport after he got his first job out of college. It was because he was looking for something to do in his spare time.

Barefoot agrees, skeleton is not for the faint of heart.

“You have to have a little bit of youthful craziness,” he said.

Going head-first, just centimeters from the ice, Dan travels as fast as 85 miles an hour on a sled through a mile-long course.

“You see how much we like fold in half almost to bend down and sprint with the sled. So you gotta be fast, but you have to be mobile,” Barefoot said.

He’ll be putting his mobility to the test in Cortina when he competes in the individual skeleton races. He could also be part of a new event this year. It’s a mixed team, where one woman and one man will compete together for their country.

“It’s kind of a thing you just say-you don’t really embody that really happening until it’s getting closer and you’re like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s really going to happen,’” Barefoot said.

Barefoot is guaranteed two races in the winter games. Look for his competitions on Feb. 12 and 13.

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