British Skeleton started the new year with World Cup gold as Matt Weston won in Winterberg on Friday morning.
Weston, who became the country’s first men’s Overall World Cup Champion for 16 years last season, beat the rest of the field by more than half a second in Germany.
The 27-year-old clocked 1 minute 53.12 seconds at the track where he won World Championship silver a year ago.
Weston sat second by four hundredths of a second after the first run before blowing the field away in the final heat after improving from the seventh best start in Run 1 to the quickest in Run 2.
He adds gold to three silvers and two bronze from the first five races of the 2024/25 campaign and now takes over from team mate Marcus Wyatt at the head of the World Cup standings with two races remaining.
Weston tops the table with 1255 points, with Wyatt second with 1197 and reigning World and Olympic Champion Christopher Grotheer third with 1100.
“It feels good, very good! What a way to start the new year!” said Weston.
I’ve been really consistent, with medals in every race of this season, but it’s been a while since I won gold and I desperately wanted one today. To get that in the first race after Christmas means it’s pretty much a dream start to 2025.
“The weather was pretty unpredictable and tough to deal with, especially in Run 1. Marcus got dealt a bad hand and it was really difficult to get a good push out of the spur because of the snow.
“I was really happy with Run 2: it was really smooth and I pushed well when it mattered most.
“I’m determined to retain my World Cup title and I want my World Championship crown back so today is a decent confidence boost.”
Today’s win makes it back-to-back men’s golds for Great Britain after Wyatt pipped Weston to first place in Sigulda before Christmas.
It takes British Skeleton’s World Cup medal total to 14 this term, eclipsing the historic tally they set in 2022/23.
Wyatt finished eighth in Winterberg today, 1.6 seconds behind Weston, with fellow Brit Laurence Bostock 16th in a 39-strong field on his first World Cup start since 2022.
Austria’s Samuel Maier took silver 0.58 seconds shy of Weston as Grotheer won bronze on home ice. Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych matched his career best by finishing fourth.
Matt Weston won his sixth medal in as many races
Amelia Coltman finished fifth in the women’s race as she missed out on a medal by 0.19 seconds. The 28-year-old was in silver medal position after the first run and on target to add to the gold she won in South Korea earlier this season but dropped back in Run 2 as she clocked an overall time of 1 minute 57.14 seconds.
Freya Tarbit placed 13th and Tabby Stoecker 16th as they came down in 1.57.39 and 1.57.61 respectively.
The British trio all sit inside the top eight in the world rankings with just two races to go this term.
Coltman moves up to fourth in the overall standings, with Tarbit fifth and Stoecker eighth as GB targets a first female overall medalist since double Olympic Champion Lizzy Yarnold a decade ago.
Austria’s Janine Flock took gold in Winterberg, meaning she has now won more skeleton World Cup medals than any other woman in history. Anna Fernstaedt won silver and Olympic Champion Hannah Neise claimed bronze. Neise leads the overall standings from Flock, with Kimberley Bos in front of Coltman and Tarbit.
Great Britain then missed out on a medal in the skeleton team event as late start draws amid deteriorating track conditions and a false start made victory in Winterberg a challenge too far.
With the two British teams starting last of the 36 sleds, Stoecker and Wyatt were seventh after Stoecker fell foul of the reaction timing rule that only features in the team event. Wyatt was the third fastest of the male sliders but the false start left them with too much to do to make the podium a month after they won the first team race of the season in Altenberg.
Weston was again the quickest male athlete on the day but Coltman came down 11th of the women, leaving their combined time just over a second shy of race winners Dan Zhao and Qinwei of China. Flock and Maier won silver for Austria and China took bronze via Yuxi Li and Zheng Lin.
Bobsleigh takes central stage over the weekend, with two British teams entered in the 2-man event on Saturday before the women’s and 4-man action on Sunday.
The circuit heads to St Moritz in Switzerland next week, with skeleton action scheduled for Friday morning and afternoon at the spiritual home of sliding.
You can watch the action live via the IBSF website or YouTube channel and follow the results and reaction on the BBSA’s Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.
Silver in Sigulda for Hall & Lawrence
Wyatt & Weston win Gold & Silver
Fourth & fifth for bobsleigh opener
Team gold plus men's silver & bronze
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