Weston wins again
Matt Weston won World Cup skeleton gold in Lillehammer on Friday to make it two top spots from two races at the start of the Olympic season.
Weston clocked a two-run time of 1 minute 42.58 seconds in Norway to back up his opening win in Italy last month, despite the fact that he is still recovering from a serious quadriceps injury that saw him miss the entirety of the team’s pre-season sliding.
The 28-year-old won the opening World Cup competition of the Olympic campaign in Cortina three weeks ago before the second event of the year, scheduled for Igls a week later, was cancelled by the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation.
Weston led by 0.11 seconds after the first heat in Lillehammer, eventually finishing 0.05 seconds clear of 2022 Olympic silver medalist Axel Jungk and a further three hundredths ahead of South Korea’s Seunnggi Jung.
The former rugby player clocked the second fastest start of the first heat in 4.65 seconds on his way to a downtime of 51.14 seconds, before taking it easier second time around and going 4.70 as part of a 51.44 finish.
Weston has now won five of the last six races across World Cup and World Championship competition in the last two seasons, with his eighth place in Lillehammer in February the only time he hasn’t made the podium since March 2024.
"It's another really good win at a time of the season that I didn’t expect to be challenging for gold medals," said Weston.
It was a really tough summer with the injury, and I’m still not fully fit, so to have won the first two races is a big boost in what we all know is a huge season.
"I’m happy with that performance: it was good to make up for last year when I won the Overall title here but didn’t race like I wanted to on the day.
"I thought my sliding was pretty smooth and the first run start time was really encouraging given the quad.
"We’ve got a big week ahead now with the double header in Sigulda but I feel like I’m heading towards Christmas in a really good place."
Matt Weston has won the opening two races of the season
Fellow Brit Marcus Wyatt was seventh, 0.28 seconds back from his team mate and two tenths shy of the medals in the 33-strong field.
Wyatt, who was 12th in Cortina last time out, sat eighth at the halfway mark after recording a Run 1 time of 51.48 off the fourth-fastest start time of 4.67, before going a tenth of a second quicker in Run 2 after a 4.65 getaway. He ended the race just two hundredths and seven hundredths behind the two Chinese sliders immediately ahead of him and a tenth ahead of their colleague a spot further back.
Jacob Salisbury finished 14th in a time of 1 minute 43.42 seconds thanks to an outstanding second run.
Salisbury sat 21st from a starting draw of 19th following a first run time of 51.86, before going fully three tenths of a second faster second time around.
He repeatedly saw sliders fail to replace him in the leader’s box after producing the tenth fastest second run time as he improved significantly on his 18th-place effort in Italy.
Amelia Coltman, Tabby Stoecker and Freya Tarbit represent GB in the women’s race at 12pm GMT before the team event takes place at 4pm.
The circuit then heads to Sigulda for a double race week on Thursday and Friday in what will be the final action of 2025.
