Britain’s Matt Weston kicked off the new year in spectacular style, grabbing gold in the Skeleton World Cup in Winterberg, Germany.
The 27-year-old left his rivals in the dust, clocking a blistering 1 minute 53.12 seconds to secure his first top spot of the season—and a commanding lead in the World Cup standings.
Weston, already a history-maker as Britain’s first men’s Overall World Cup Champion in 16 years, blew the competition away in the second run. Sitting second by just four hundredths of a second after the first heat, Weston roared back with the day’s fastest start and a flawless finish to crush the field by more than half a second.
“It feels good—very good! What a way to start the new year!” said Weston, beaming after his victory.
“I’ve been really consistent with medals in every race 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 is pretty much a dream start to 2025.”
The win marks back-to-back golds for Britain after Marcus Wyatt took the top spot in Sigulda before Christmas. Weston now leads the World Cup standings with 1,255 points, ahead of Wyatt on 1,197 and German Olympic champ Christopher Grotheer on 1,100.
Austria’s Samuel Maier took silver, 0.58 seconds behind Weston, while Grotheer settled for bronze on home ice.
Brits Flying High
Wyatt finished eighth in Winterberg, with Laurence Bostock placing 16th in his first World Cup start since 2022. The result brings Britain’s World Cup medal tally this season to a record-breaking 14, eclipsing the previous high set in 2022/23.
Meanwhile, Amelia Coltman came agonisingly close to adding another medal for Team GB in the women’s race. She sat in silver medal position after the first run but slipped to fifth in the second, missing out on the podium by just 0.19 seconds.
Coltman’s overall performance moves her up to fourth in the world rankings, with teammates Freya Tarbit and Tabby Stoecker also in the top eight.
What’s Next?
Bobsleigh takes centre stage this weekend, with two British teams competing in the 2-man event on Saturday, followed by women’s and 4-man action on Sunday.
The sliding world then heads to St Moritz, Switzerland, next week, where skeleton fans can watch Weston and the rest of Team GB in action live on the IBSF website or YouTube channel.
The Brits are on fire—2025 could be a golden year for British Skeleton!
Main Photo: Britain’s Matt Weston. Photo taken by Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Image remixed with skeleton background. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
