Matt Weston well-placed to end Great Britain’s medal drought at Winter Olympics

Britain’s Matt Weston is poised for the podium after setting the pace in the opening two runs of the men’s skeleton competition at the Winter Olympics.

Weston posted a new track record of 56.21 seconds on his first run at the Cortina Sliding Centre, with that time broken twice more before he again laid down a new marker of 55.88s to end the day on a combined time of one minute 52.09s, 0.3s ahead of Axel Jungk.

Weston, who is a double world champion, said: “I think I’m pretty happy with the way it’s gone.

“There’s still things that I can improve on which I think is an extremely lucky and fortunate place to be. The fact that I want to improve, I want to chase, there’s still things that I can get time out of.

“But being in first and being in that position is a great place to be.”

Teammate Marcus Wyatt sits in seventh place on a total time of 1:53.21, 1.12s behind Weston and 0.66s off the medals.

He said: “I’m definitely capable of picking up some of that time and fixing those mistakes. It’s just a case of executing tomorrow when it matters most.

“I’m not going to chase, I’m not going to try and think drastic. I’m just going to turn up and do what I try to do every time.”

The competition concludes with two final runs on Friday evening, with the total time of all four heats deciding the winner.