Matt Weston (born 2 April 1997) is a British skeleton racer. He is a two-time world champion, two-time European champion and has won the overall World Cup title on two occasions. He is also a three-time World Championship silver medallist in the mixed team event.
During his youth, Weston competed in taekwondo and rugby before switching to skeleton in 2017 following his participation in UK Sport's Discover your Gold programme. He won his first World Cup event in 2021, and finished in 15th position at the 2022 Winter Olympics. In January 2023, he became European champion, and later the same month won his first world title, becoming the second British man to be crowned world skeleton champion. He won successive overall World Cup titles in 2023–24 and 2024–25. In 2025, he won the World Championships to become the first Briton to be a two-time world skeleton champion.
Early life
During his youth, Weston played rugby for both Kent and Sevenoaks RFC.[3] He also competed in taekwondo where he won medals at international level. He was forced to quit taekwondo following a stress fracture of the back.[4]
Career
In December 2017, Weston participated in Discover your Gold, a talent identification programme hosted by UK Sport. Skeleton was identified as an option for him and he then trained with Royal Marines to test his physical and mental abilities. In 2019, he competed in skeleton for the first time, and subsequently won two second-tier Europa Cup titles in his first three races.[4] At the 2020 World Championships, he finished in 15th position.[5] In December 2020, Weston won his first ever World Cup medal after securing a silver medal in Innsbruck. It was his fifth start in a World Cup event and his second-place finish was the highest placing by a British man since Kristan Bromley in 2010.[6] At the 2021 World Championships, he finished 23rd.[7]
In November 2021, Weston won his first ever World Cup gold medal after finishing in a three-way tie for victory in Innsbruck. He shared victory with Christopher Grotheer and Geng Wenqiang who all recorded the same time.[8] The following February, he competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the men's skeleton, finishing in 15th place.[2] Weston reportedly considered quitting the sport after an Olympic Games where Great Britain failed to win any medal in skeleton having claimed a minimum of one medal at the previous five Games.[4]
In November, at the season-opening 2022–23 World Cup meeting in Whistler, Weston finished third.[9] The following month, he won a gold medal at Lake Placid.[10] In January, he won a bronze medal in Winterberg,[11] and a gold medal in Altenberg,[12] Later that month, he secured another victory at Altenberg, the World Cup event also doubled up as the European Championships.[13] In February, he won further competitions in Innsbruck[14] and Sigulda, to finish the World Cup in overall second position. An 18th-place finish earlier in the competition cost him points as Christopher Grotheer claimed overall victory.[15] At the 2023 World Championships in St Moritz, Weston won the world title, becoming Great Britain's second male world champion, and first since Kristan Bromley in 2008. He finished the competition 1.79 seconds ahead of Amedeo Bagnis.[16] He also finished runner-up in the mixed team with teammate Laura Deas.[17]
In December 2023, Weston finished second at La Plagne in the 2023–24 World Cup.[18] Later that month, he won his first World Cup event of the season in Innsbruck.[19] In February, Weston finished runner-up to Marcus Wyatt at the 2024 European Championships in Sigulda.[20] Later that month, at the 2024 World Championships in Winterberg, Weston finished with a silver medal in the men's skeleton after ending 0.23 seconds adrift of Grotheer.[21] He also won a silver medal in the mixed team event with Tabby Stoecker.[22] Later in the World Cup series, he finished third at events in Sigulda and Altenberg.[23] Heading into the final race of the World Cup competition in Lake Placid, Weston trailed Christopher Grotheer by 75 points, but a 17th place-finish for the German coupled with a fourth place for Weston gave the Briton the overall world Cup title. He was the first British man to win the series in 16 years.[24]
In the 2024–25 World Cup, Weston finished in third position at the first two events of the competition that were both held in Pyeongchang.[25] Weston then won three successive silver medals in the series at Yanqing,[26] Altenberg[27] and Sigulda,[28] before claiming back-to-back victories in Winterberg[29] and St Moritz.[30] He also won a bronze medal in the mixed team event at St Moritz with Amelia Coltman.[31] At the end of the competition, which he ended with an eighth-place finish in Lillehammer, Weston was crowned overall World Cup Champion for the second successive year. He became the third British man after Kristan Bromley and Alex Coomber to win multiple overall World Cup titles.[32]
In March 2025, Weston was crowned world champion in Lake Placid; his winning advantage of 1.9 seconds was the second-largest margin in the history of the competition.[33] Weston recorded the fastest times in both of the first two runs to take an overnight lead of 0.89 seconds. He then set a track record in his third run before sealing the title in his fourth. His international teammate Marcus Wyatt came second, marking the first time that Great Britain had won two medals in the same event at a World Championships. He also became the first British skeleton athlete to win two world titles in the sport.[34] He then won a silver medal in the mixed team event with Tabby Stoecker.[35]
In the 2025–26 World Cup, Weston won the first leg of the series in Cortina to secure his tenth career gold medal in World Cups.[36] He then won another gold at the next leg of the series in Lillehammer,[37] before winning a gold and silver medal at back-to-back events held in Sigulda.[38] In January 2026, Weston set a new track record during his victory in St Moritz, his fourth World Cup win of the season.[39] Later that week, on the same track, Weston became the European champions for the second time after finishing 0.91 seconds ahead of Amedeo Bagnis. The event also formed part of the World Cup series.[40]
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