Usually just appearing as the Earl of Northesk in Olympic results, John Carnegie was a pre-race favourite for the skeleton title. He had broken the Cresta Run track record a week before the Olympics, but faltered in the first heat and ended in third place. During World War II, Carnegie served in the Intelligence Corps, eventually rising to the rank of major. He was elected a Representative Peer for Scotland in 1959. He devoted much of his time to his pedigree dogs and the local kennel club, but was also a great marksman, and railway enthusiast. He died childless, and his cousin John Douglas Carnegie became the 12th Earl of Northesk.