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Matt Weston says the turnaround in the Great Britain skeleton team from four years ago has been “absolutely insane” as he goes into the upcoming Winter Olympics favourite to win gold.
Four years ago at the Beijing Games, Britain failed to win any medals in the skeleton for the first time since it was reintroduced to the Olympic programme in 2002.
Yet two-time world champion Weston and his team-mate Marcus Wyatt have dominated the men’s season this winter leading into the Milan-Cortina Games.
In the women’s World Cup, meanwhile, Tabby Stoecker finished third overall for Britain’s first women’s medal in 11 years and Britain also clinched World Cup gold in the mixed team event, which will make its Olympic debut in a few weeks.
“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,” Weston told BBC Radio Somerset.
“The turnaround from Beijing has been absolutely insane and that’s only down to the people that we’ve been working around.
“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, ranked number one in the world, won the overall World Cup title for the third consecutive year earlier this month – becoming the first male slider to do so – winning five of the seven rounds.
Wyatt finished on the podium in second, winning the two other World Cup rounds, meaning Great Britain became the first nation to ever sweep the board in the series.
Weston also won his second European title at the start of January – with Stoecker taking silver in the women’s event – and is also the reigning world champion having clinched his second title in Lake Placid last March.
The 29-year-old said his relationship with friend and team-mate Wyatt has pushed them both on to be better than ever.
“That’s the reason why we are neck-and-neck and battling for one and two rather than six and seven – because we work so well together,” Weston said.
“When Marcus is firing on all cylinders and sliding his best, it pushes me to be even better and the same vice versa.”
Both Weston and Wyatt competed at the 2022 Olympics, finishing 15th and 16th respectively, although the experience was starkly different with the Covid-19 pandemic still having an impact.
Devon-born Wyatt, 34, said this time around the situation could not be any better going into the Games – even if that brings more expectation.
“I understand we’ve both had really good seasons and there comes pressure with that,” he said.
“But having been to Beijing and not had the result we wanted, this is everything I’ve dreamed, to be going into an Olympics as one of the favourites.
“Yes, there’s pressure with that and I will absolutely focus on my job and not really worry about that but I wouldn’t change this for the world.”
ShutterstockStoecker, a former trapeze artist, is going to her first Winter Olympics as one of three women in the team competing alongside Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit – the first time Britain has qualified for three places in the event.
The 25-year-old from London, who trains in Bath where the skeleton and bobsleigh team are based, said it was already a “remarkable” achievement.
“We’ve qualified three spaces from a nation that doesn’t have a home track, that has significantly less runs down a skeleton track than the other nations,” she said.
“We should definitely lean on each other and the confidence we should take from that as a squad – it’s not just one person performing amazingly, it’s all five of us performing to the best of our ability on the world stage.”
