Matt Weston continues GB success with victory in men’s event
On Friday (November 21), there was again cause for celebration within the British team two-time world champion Matt Weston raced to victory in the men’s skeleton event, with a combined time of 1:53.84 over two runs.
Although his heat times were never the fastest, Weston’s speed and consistency were more than enough to top the leaderboard in Cortina d’Ampezzo. It was a similar story for reigning European champions Samuel Maierwho finished second behind Weston in a time of 1:53.99 (+0.15 seconds).
Third went to Yin Zheng of the People’s Republic of China, which set the new track record 56.79 seconds in the first run. The second time he asked, he couldn’t reproduce that kind of speed, finishing with a combined time of 1:54.04 (+0.18 seconds).
Lukas Nydegger, men’s skeleton gold medalist at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Olympics, finished fourth in a time of 1:54.07, while Team USA’s Austin Florian set a new start record at 4.51 seconds.
The track record for women was set on 57.94 seconds by Germany Jacqueline Pfeiferwho clocked a time of 1:55.93 over both runs to claim her first World Cup victory in almost five years at Cortina Sliding Centre.
She was joined on the podium by teammate Hanna Neisewho clocked 1:56.16 (+0.23 seconds) to finish second. Belgium Kim Meylemans had an encouraging start to her season, finishing third in a time of 1:56.25 (+0.32 seconds).
Despite setting the new start record on 4.82 secondsBritain’s Stoecker finished fifth (1:56.67) behind reigning European champion and World Cup bronze medalist Janine Flock (1:56.54).
There will be more action from the Cortina Sliding Center on Saturday (22 November), with bobsleigh competitions in the Dolomites.
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