By Mitch Phillips
LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Britain’s unlikely status as the second-most successful nation in Olympic skeleton is largely based on a trio of women’s wins but, in the shape of current world number one Matt Weston, they hope that the men can come to the podium party in Cortina.
Britain won three consecutive golds in the women’s event via Amy Williams (2010) and Lizzy Yarnold (2014 and 2018), while Laura Deas also took bronze in Pyeongchang. That has propelled the country not known for
winter sport prowess to second in the all-time overall skeleton rankings behind the United States, who also have three golds but four silvers and one bronze, to Britain’s one silver and five bronze.
On the men’s side Britain has three bronzes from 1928, 1948 and 2018 and Weston is desperate to improve on that and in the process try to fend off Germany’s sliding hegemony that finally spread from luge and bobsleigh to skeleton four years ago when they won gold in both men’s and women’s – each for the first time.
Weston has been consistency personified in recent years, with world championship wins in 2023 and 2025 either side of a silver and three successive World Cup triumphs following his crowning last weekend.
He also won in the Olympic test event on the new Cortina track last November and has carried that form into the new year, claiming the European Championship and winning five of the first six events of this season’s World Cup – including with a start and track record at St Moritz.
The only World Cup races he did not win this season were the two where he finished second to compatriot Marcus Wyatt and his hot form makes him one of the biggest favourites for any event at the Games and undoubtedly Britain’s strongest hope.
Like many British winter Olympians Weston has taken a roundabout route to his current sport, after a successful teenage career in taekwondo was curtailed by an injury that diverted him to rugby.
He then tried out for the British Olympic Association’s talent identification scheme where he discovered skeleton and made quick progress, only for a 15th-place at the Beijing Games two years after his World Cup debut to bring huge disappointment.
He bounced back superbly, however, and now, at the age of 28, is the dominant force in the sport. "There is an expectation and a pressure that comes with being number one in the world but I'm embracing that," Weston told reporters after being officially named in the team on Thursday.
"To have two of us - my regular roommate (Wyatt) - in with a real chance of medals is really exciting. We have pushed each other to get to this point but we know we have to get everything right on the day as everyone brings their best to the Olympics."
Hoping to cash in on any tiny mistake in Cortina will be Wyatt, China’s Yin Zheng and Germany’s Beijing silver medallist Axel Jungk.
The women’s event looks a more open affair. Belgium’s Kim Meylemans will go into the Games on the back of three wins in four World Cup events but Austria’s Janine Flock and Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer have been pushing her all season. Tabitha Stoecker, fresh from securing third place in the World Cup, will hope to continue Britain’s strong recent pedigree.
This year also sees the debut of mixed skeleton, where teams of one man and one woman combine their times. It has been a world championship event since 2020, with Germany winning the first four editions before the U.S. took gold in Lake Placid last year. Britain claimed the World Cup crown last week, ahead of Germany and the U.S.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
