Lizzy Yarnold hails Matt Weston's skeleton world title triumph as near perfect
Matt Weston set his sights on unfinished Olympic business after becoming skeleton world champion in St Moritz.
A week after powering to the European title Weston outclassed his rivals to win by 1.79 seconds - the biggest margin for 11 years at the spiritual home of sliding.
Double Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold hailed the 25-year old’s performance as “breathtaking” and “almost faultless”.
Weston is only the second British man to rule the world in skeleton after Kristan Bromley in 2008 and his victory comes a year after Team GB bombed at the Winter Olympics.
He said: “To go from the disappointment we had in Beijing to where we are now is a great answer to those who questioned us.
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“I’m extremely proud of my performance and even prouder that as a team we’ve done so well. It's been a massive collective effort.”
Lizzy Yarnold celebrates retaining her Olympic Skeleton crown in Pyeongchang (Getty Images AsiaPac)Craig Thompson finished fourth, 0.01secs off bronze, and Marcus Wyatt fifth, making it the most successful men’s race ever for the British team.
Weston added: “To become world champion is an absolute dream and other big sliding nations, like Germany, are now watching what we do a lot more - paying attention to little old Britain.
“But our coaches (Martins Dukurs and Matthias Guggenberger) have experienced massive highs for so many years and I’ll use that to my advantage.
Weston triumphed by 1.79 seconds - the biggest World Championship winning margin for 11 years (MAYK WENDT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“I’ll use their experience to learn how to cope with what it feels like to have a target on your back going into the Olympics. I really feel that will give me an edge.”
Yarnold, Olympic champion in 2014 and 2018, was full of praise for the former rugby player turned ice-cool world beater.
“St Moritz is a long and technical track, and Matt made it look easy,” she said. “Don't let his joy and intuitive nature to performance take away from the years of dedication and complete commitment which he has.
“To go from the disappointment we had in Beijing to where we are now is a great answer to those who questioned us" (MAYK WENDT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“The St Moritz track is completely natural and is rebuilt each year, apart from three corners which partly have brick walls. Snow and ice are packed together in the middle of fields of deep snow to create a natural ice canal.
“The track therefore moves and expands during the day as the sun rises and falls, each run you're racing on a slightly different track. Ice can be slippy or grippy, just like on the pavements!
“Watching Matt compete over four runs in an almost faultless way has been breathtaking, what an epic winning margin as well! This is Matt's fourth win this season - astonishing. So impressive to watch.”
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Laura Deas, Britain’s 2018 Olympic bronze medallist, took ninth place in the women’s event, with Brogan Crowley 18th.
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