There was further cause for celebration within the British team on Friday (21 November), as two-time world champion Matt Weston raced to victory in the men’s skeleton event, clocking a combined time of 1:53.84 over two runs.
While his heat times were never the fastest outright, Weston’s speed and consistency were more than enough to top the leaderboard in Cortina d’Ampezzo. It was a similar story for reigning European champion Samuel Maier, who finished second behind Weston in a time of 1:53.99 (+0.15 seconds).
Third went to Yin Zheng of the People’s Republic of China, who set the new track record at 56.79 seconds in the first run. He was unable to replicate that sort of speed on the second time of asking and finished with a combined time of 1:54.04 (+0.18 seconds).
Lukas Nydegger, a gold medallist in men’s skeleton at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020, finished fourth in a time of 1:54.07, while Team USA’s Austin Florian set a new start record at 4.51 seconds.
The women’s track record was set at 57.94 seconds by Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer, who clocked 1:55.93 across both runs to claim her first World Cup victory in almost five years at Cortina Sliding Centre.
She was joined on the podium by teammate Hannah Neise, who clocked 1:56.16 (+0.23 seconds) to finish second. Belgium’s Kim Meylemans got her season off to an encouraging start, finishing third in a time of 1:56.25 (+0.32 seconds).
Despite setting the new start record at 4.82 seconds, Great Britain’s Stoecker finished fifth (1:56.67) behind reigning European champion and world championships bronze medallist Janine Flock (1:56.54).
There will be more action from the Cortina Sliding Centre on Saturday (22 November), with bobsleigh competitions set to get underway in the Dolomites.