Matt Weston and Tubby Stecker teamed up to win an Olympic gold medal in the mixed team skeleton event.
Weston was the clear winner of the men’s title on Friday night at the Cortina Sliding Center, but Stecker settled for fifth in Saturday’s women’s event.
Weston competed in the mixed competition and was aiming to become the first British athlete to win two medals at the same Winter Olympics, but he had work to do ahead of the second leg.
However, Weston quickly regained the advantage held by Germans Suzanne Clare and Axel Jungk, and finished with an excellent result, ultimately winning by 0.17 seconds.
Fellow Brits Marcus Wyatt and Freya Tervitt narrowly edged out fourth place ahead of the German team of Jacqueline Pfeiffer and Christopher Groter.
“Fortunately, I felt like I knew what I needed to do,” Weston said. “I gained so much confidence in the individual competition that I had to get ‘bored’ to get the job done and try again.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Stecker added. “It was a team effort and when Matt came down and we got on the green, it was just a shock.”
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Geraint Hughes reports from Milan vs. Cortina that the GB team won their third gold of the match in the mixed team skeleton
Weston’s heroic performance made him the first Briton to win two gold medals at a Winter Olympics.
Following on from the mixed snowboard team’s win last time out, Weston and Stecker’s dramatic victory gave Team GB two gold medals on the same day at a Winter Olympics for the first time.
It is also the first time that Britain has won three gold medals at the same Winter Olympics.
Weston ran a 0.3-second deficit and Wyatt, his roommate on tour, admired his ability.
“It’s unbelievable. He’s a hell of a skeleton athlete and is now tied with Lizzy (Yarnold, women’s skeleton champion) who is the most decorated Winter Olympian from Britain, so it’s not a bad day,” Wyatt said.
Mr Turbitt added: “I mean, obviously it’s a very conflicting feeling.
“I’m really happy for Matt and Tabby to do so well and we’ve seen some of our closest friends win gold so on the one hand we’re really looking forward to them, but on the other hand it’s obviously disappointing to miss out on a medal.”
