Matt Weston reveals exact moment when ‘tears’ hit after Team GB gold | Other | Sport

Matt Weston has opened up on the moment he could no longer fight back the tears after delivering Britain’s first medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Weston claimed gold in the men’s skeleton by a cumulative total of 0.88 seconds over his four runs, ahead of German pair Alex Jungk and Christopher Grotheer, who took silver and bronze, respectively.

“I had no idea what anyone else had done, I keep my helmet just low enough so that I can’t see any of the times when I’m at the block. As soon as I came up in the out run, all I was looking for was green numbers, and I saw them, and then the tears hit – I was just shocked at the bottom.

“Then my coach basically rugby tackled me and dived onto me at the end – I kind of knew I’d done a good job! As soon as I saw the green numbers, the tears started, to be honest.”

The 28-year-old is the first British man to win a skeleton gold. Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold have both previously triumphed in the women’s competition.

But a thrilled Weston said: “I’m just so pleased that I’m able to continue such an amazing legacy. We’ve had some insane athletes come before me and set the standard, set the momentum.

“Obviously Beijing (in 2022) didn’t go quite as well as we’d hoped. We took a risk with equipment then and it didn’t quite pay off.

“But now we completely reset, we revamped everything, new coaches, new kind of philosophies around things and yeah, I think we’ve turned it around pretty well.”

Weston’s parents, Alison and Tom, along with his fiancee, Alex, were there to witness his triumph.

“They’re the ones that are pushing me the most,” he said.“My fiancee, I’m out of the country for six months of the year and it’s not a glamorous lifestyle being a skeleton athlete but she’s still always there supporting me.

“I’m getting married in July so I can say yes (it is the best day of my life) for about a few months and then I have to change my answer.”

Reflecting on his triumph, Weston admitted: “I literally can’t describe it. I’ve been fortunate enough to win world championships, European championships and other things as well and this blows them all out of the water.

“I can’t describe the feeling. I almost feel numb. It’s kind of not real. I keep touching it (his medal) to make sure it is real but it doesn’t feel real.”

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