GB clinches two skeleton golds in World Cup opener

Britain’s Matt Weston started his skeleton World Cup campaign in perfect fashion by winning Friday’s season-opening race in Cortina.

The 28-year-old finished 0.15 seconds ahead of Austria’s Samuel Mayer in Italy after two laps to claim his 10th World Cup gold medal.

Later on Friday, British duo Tabby Stoecker and Marcus White emerged victorious in the team race with a combined time of 2 minutes and 1.23 seconds.

This left them five-hundredths of a second ahead of Germans Jacqueline Pfeiffer and Axel Jungke and twenty-one-hundredths of a second ahead of Austrians Janine Flock and Mayer in the stadium that will host the Winter Olympics in February.

Stoecker, who placed fifth in the women’s event just before the team competition, was the fastest woman in the race with a time of 1 minute, 1.31 seconds, while White was just ninth in the 100th fastest men’s time of the night with a time of 59.92 seconds.

Earlier, Weston’s pole times of 4.78 and 4.76 seconds were only 24th and 18th fastest, leaving him in contention for a podium finish.

But double world champion Weston made up the gap through the 16-corner course, winning in a time of 1 minute 53.84 seconds, taking his 21st podium finish in the last 25 races.

Weston said: “I’m delighted with the win. It’s been a tough pre-season due to injury, so to come here and do this is a massive boost.”