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.
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 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.
It has taken a week of action for Team GB to put a first medal on the board after this Games had been tipped to be their most successful ever, but instead it has seen a series of near misses for many of the podium hopefuls.