Great Britain’s hopes for Winter Olympics success in the skeleton have never been higher with 28 year old Matt Weston from Tunbridge Wells leading the way this week.
Led by world No. 1 Weston, the transformation of the skeleton team in recent years has been full of friendly rivalries and World Cup victories.
It’s not bad for a team that doesn’t train on ice.
The wooden push-start track at the University of Bath campus has been home to the hard graft of Britain’s sliding hopes for more than 20 years. But it hasn’t been an easy ride.
At Beijing 2022, Team GB left without a podium finish in the skeleton for the first time since 2002.
Weston, who placed 15th, was so devastated he almost quit the sport altogether.
“I was very upset. There were a lot of tears,” he said this week.
“(There were) a lot of conversations with family and my fiancée. But once I decided I was going to try to go to the next Olympics and put this right, I never looked back.”
Fast forward four years, and Weston has landed in Cortina with something to prove. In the years in between the Games, he became the first male slider to win three consecutive World Cup titles. He also arrives as the current European champion.
“The turnaround from Beijing has been absolutely insane,” he said “That’s only down to the people that we’ve been working around.”
When Weston and fellow Brit Marcus Wyatt take to their starting positions for their first runs on Thursday, it will be almost exactly a year since they clinched GB’s first-ever one-two finish at a men’s skeleton overall World Cup standings last season.
In the months leading up to Milano Cortina 2026, they have continued their friendly rivalry. On the rare occasion Weston has not topped the World Cup podiums, it has often been to Wyatt.
“Individually, we’ve changed and made sure we’re in the best position, but the whole team and whole squad have put in all the work to be able to get us there and hopefully be able to perform,” Weston continued.
“To be on top of the podium would mean a hell of a lot for me individually, but it goes to show the strength and resilience of the whole team.”
Picture supplied by Team GB.