Weston wins maiden skeleton World Cup with incredible three-way tie

Skeleton 26 Nov 21

Matt Weston has claimed his maiden World Cup skeleton victory in a dramatic three-way tie in Innsbruck.

The 24-year-old led by just 0.01 seconds after the first heat and put in a run of 52.95 seconds in the second heat to earn a remarkable tie.

Marcus Wyatt recorded a top ten finish, while PyeongChang bronze medallist Laura Deas finished in 20th in the women's competition.

Weston had produced a time of 53.09 seconds in the first run to sit just ahead of Geng Wenqiang of China and Germany’s Christopher Grotheer.

Those three would later be sharing the podium, but all with gold medals around their neck.

Grotheer was the first of the trio to go as the second heat saw the top 20 go in reverse order and put in the fastest run of the competition with 52.88 seconds to set the benchmark.

Wenqiang could not better that, posting 52.94 to draw level with the German, and as Weston readied himself, he knew that same time would be good enough for gold.

In the end, the Kent slider recorded a time just one-hundredth of a second slower, but his overall time of 1:46.04 seconds was enough to see him make the top step of the podium for the first time.

“It’s amazing - I’m almost lost for words, to be honest. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had on the ice and it definitely hasn’t sunk in yet," said Weston.

“I knew I could improve on last week but to go that much better was just brilliant.

“It was amazing winning silver here last season but this definitely beats that hands down!

“I can take a lot of positives from the result but also because I know the runs weren’t perfect - I know there’s the potential for more improvement.

“This season is all about getting to the Olympics in the best shape possible and this is a big step towards doing that.”

It means that Igls is a happy hunting ground for Weston, having claimed his debut World Cup medal there with a silver last December.

Victory today also sees Weston complete the World Cup set, having secured bronze in Germany in January of this year and sets him up perfectly ahead of Beijing 2022 in less than 100 days.

Wyatt and Craig Thompson also delivered impressive performances with the top 18 sliders separated by less than a second.

Thompson finished in 17th, moving up three places with a second run of 53.34 seconds to sit one place ahead of veteran competitor Tomass Dukurs of Latvia.

Wyatt finished one place above his brother Martins Dukurs, a six-time world champion, as he rounded out the top ten with an overall time of 1.46.55.

Deas came home in 20th in the women's event, with fellow Brit Brogran Crowley, finishing a second ahead of her in 17th as Russian Elena Nikitina claimed victory.