British Skeleton Athlete Matt Weston Takes Second Place in Beijing World Cup

On Saturday in China, Great Britain’s Matt Weston secured second place in the skeleton World Cup event, narrowly missing his first victory of the season by a mere one-hundredth of a second. Germany’s Christopher Grotheer continued his perfect season, achieving his third consecutive win at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, situated near Beijing. China’s Yin Zheng finished third, completing the podium and placing just ahead of Britain’s Marcus Wyatt, who came in fourth. In the men’s competition, Weston initially held a 0.11-second lead over Christopher Grotheer, the reigning Olympic champion, after the first run. However, Grotheer delivered a powerful performance in the second run, securing the win with an overall time of two minutes 1.93 seconds. Weston, who topped the overall standings last season, had previously finished third in the first two races of the current season. Concurrently, Freya Tarbit of Great Britain maintained her strong start to the women’s skeleton season by achieving a third-place finish. Tarbit, aged 24, who had claimed gold in South Korea the previous weekend, was in a joint first-place position with China’s Zhao Dan following the initial run. Nevertheless, she fell back during her second run, concluding the race 0.41 seconds behind Zhao, who ultimately won. Germany’s Hannah Niese, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist on this specific track, secured second place. Meanwhile, GB’s Tabby Stoecker finished fourth, and her team-mate Amelia Coltman placed 14th. Freya Tarbit currently leads the women’s overall standings, having achieved finishes of fourth, first, and third in the initial three races of the women’s skeleton World Cup season.