Weston wins emphatic skeleton gold for first GB medal

Matt Weston cemented his status as the best skeleton racer in the world as he made history by winning Olympic gold in emphatic fashion in Cortina, securing Team GB’s first medal of the 2026 Winter Games.

Weston set a track record on all four of his runs to become the first British man to win winter gold since Christopher Dean topped the ice dancing podium alongside Jayne Torvill in 1984, and the first British man to win Olympic skeleton gold.

The 28-year-old could have eased off in his final run having already built a significant margin of 0.39 seconds, but ramped things up on what was ultimately a victory lap lasting 55.61secs, finishing with a sensational overall time of 3:43.33.

Weston has been the epitome of focus throughout the Games but the emotions finally took hold as he crossed the finish line and buried his face in the ice, before delivering his trademark double fist-pump celebration towards his friends and family.

“It means everything. It means a hell of a lot to me personally, I’ve worked so hard for this,” Weston told BBC Sport.

“But everyone back home – my fiance, my family, my friends, everyone who has sacrificed everything for this. I’ve missed funerals, birthdays, everything for this moment. It feels amazing. Hopefully I made you proud.”

He had laid the foundations for victory on Thursday, bouncing back from an early mistake in run one and putting down a statement second run to take an overnight advantage of 0.30secs coming into the medal-deciding heats.

The Briton was close to flawless on Friday and his 55.63secs in run three prompted early celebrations from the two-time world champion along with the numerous fans snaked around the track, draped in Union Jack flags.

It left an almost impossible task for the chasing pack and Germany’s Axel Jungk ultimately finished 0.88secs behind to take silver while compatriot and Olympic champion from Beijing Christopher Grotheer secured bronze, 1.07secs behind top spot.

Fellow Briton Marcus Wyatt, who had also been tipped as a medal contender having won two World Cup races this season, struggled on the technical Cortina track and finished ninth with 3:45.77 overall.

Redhill-born Weston could yet add more silverware to his collection as he partners Amelia Coltman in the mixed team event, newly introduced for Milan-Cortina, on Sunday.

Wyatt and Tabitha Stoecker, who narrowly missed out on the chance to occupy a podium position at the halfway point of the women’s competition earlier on Friday, will also contest the event in which they won overall World Cup gold this year.

Weston knows what it feels like to walk away from an Olympics empty-handed, having done so four years ago in Beijing when he finished 15th at his maiden Games.

For the first time since skeleton was reinstated at the Olympics in 2002, GB had failed to win a medal.

It was a disastrous result for a historically dominant skeleton nation and Weston said he was close to quitting the sport.

In 2023 he became Britain’s first men’s world champion in 15 years, taking silver the following year but reclaiming his title in 2025.

His first World Cup overall crown came in 2024 and he has been unrivalled since, earlier this year becoming the first man to win three consecutive titles – winning five of the seven races this season and finishing second in the other two.

Arriving at this Games as reigning world, European and World Cup champion, the pressure was on to deliver.

But Weston was better equipped to deal with it having learned to embrace the pressure and, once winning became the norm, carry the weight of being the favourite.