Britain’s Matt Weston had everyone racing for second place at the men’s skeleton world championships, after capping a dominant performance Friday by leaving no doubt that he’ll head into next season as the favourite for Olympic gold.
Weston won his second world title on Friday, finishing off an easy win at the world championships in Lake Placid. He completed four runs down the track — possibly the one that’ll play host to next year’s Olympics — in 3 minutes, 35.48 seconds.
Weston’s winning margin of 1.90 seconds was the second-largest in a men’s world championships since skeleton was restored to the Olympic program about a quarter-century ago.
Weston becomes the fifth man to win the world title at least twice, joining seven-time champion — and current member of the British coaching staff — Martins Dukurs of Latvia, three-time champions Christopher Grotheer of Germany and Gregor Stahli of Switzerland, and two-time winners Ryan Davenport and Jeff Pain, both of Canada.
WATCH | Weston wins 2nd world title:
With a dominant performance on both his runs at Lake Placid, N.Y. Friday, Matt Weston captured another world championship skeleton title.
Britain’s Marcus Wyatt was second in 3:37.38, and Germany’s Axel Jungk got the bronze in 3:37.41. Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskecych was fourth, missing a medal by 0.08 seconds.
Zheng Yin of China was fifth and Austin Florian was the top American, placing sixth.
Weston’s first world title was at St. Moritz, Switzerland, two years ago. He also won the overall World Cup title this season for the second consecutive year.