GB clinch two skeleton golds in World Cup opener

Great Britain’s Matt Weston kicked off his skeleton World Cup campaign in perfect fashion by winning Friday’s opening race of the season in Cortina.

The 28-year-old finished 0.15 seconds ahead of Austria’s Samuel Maier in Italy after the two runs to earn his 10th World Cup gold medal.

Later on Friday, British pair Tabby Stoecker and Marcus Wyatt triumphed in the team race with a combined time of two minutes 1.23 seconds.

That left them five hundredths of a second clear of Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer and Axel Jungk and two tenths ahead of Austria’s Janine Flock and Maier at the venue which will host February’s Olympic Winter Games.

Stoecker, who was fifth in the women’s event just prior to the team competition, was the fastest woman in the race in a time of one minute 1.31 seconds, while Wyatt was just ninth hundredths from the fastest men’s time of the night in 59.92 seconds.

Earlier, Weston’s start times of 4.78 and 4.76 seconds were only 24th and 18th quickest in the pack, leaving him with a struggle to make the podium.

But two-time world champion Weston made up the deficit through the 16-corner track, to win with a time of one minute 53.84 seconds and claim his 21st podium finish in his past 25 races.

A hamstring injury meant Weston missed a pre-season training camp in Norway.

“I’m not able to push at anywhere near my usual pace but I feel like I’ve really clicked with the track and that showed”, said Weston.

“To start 24th and then 18th but still get the win proves that my sliding was on point, even though I’ve missed out on a lot of ice time because of the injury.

” It’s been an incredible two or three weeks here – it’s an amazing venue and a really interesting track – and I’m already looking forward to trying to match today’s result when we come back for the big one, “said Weston.

” I know that this result won’t mean anything come the Olympics but it’s a great way to start the season and it will definitely give me confidence when we come back here in February. “