How ‘heartbreaking’ Beijing memories 'lit the fire' for Matt Weston's skeleton gold push at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

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After threatening to quit skeleton racing after a 15th-placed finish at the Beijing Games four years ago, Matt Weston instead used the "heartbreaking" disappointment as motivation to claim gold in Italy. Weston broke four track records to become the Olympic champion, and he explains how he did it. Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+.

Weston struggling to process Olympic gold after 'heartbreak' of Beijing

Video credit: TNT Sports

Matt Weston finally got his hands on skeleton gold, securing his first career Olympic medal, and Team GB's first, at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

And he did it in dominant style, breaking the record in all four of the heats, before delivering his fastest time of 55.61 seconds to clinch the gold medal.

It was a vast improvement on his display at the Beijing Games four years ago, where he finished 15th.

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"After Beijing, it was really, really tough emotionally. Just heartbreaking, because after Beijing I felt that I had let myself down, the nation down, my family down, everything like that," he told TNT Sports.

Weston admitted to TNT Sports' Laura Robson that he had considered quitting the sport following the 2022 Olympics, but, instead, revealed that it "lit the fire" in him heading into the next Olympic cycle.

"All the effort that had gone into that point, so that is what lit the fire and gave me the motivation to keep pushing and chase for this moment, to be honest," he said.

"It’s definitely all worth it now, I think. The fact that I’m sat here with a medal, let alone a gold one, is just absolutely insane."

Watch: Weston delivers EPIC gold for Team GB

Video credit: TNT Sports

Weston then went into detail about how he was able to close the gap on his competitors, notably overhauling former Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer, who settled for bronze.

"Skeleton is one of those sports where you need all the pieces of the puzzle to perform," he explained.

"One of them is me physically, being a push athlete, the sliding as you go down the track, and the other is the equipment.

"In Beijing, we took a risk with the equipment, and it didn't pay off. After that, we kind of rewrote the rule book, completely scrapped everything and started from scratch. We brought in new sled developers, new coaches and things like that. That was kind of the final piece of the puzzle.

"It's not just me who has had success over the past few years, it's all my team-mates, everyone who's here at the Olympics has won a World Cup, which is just an insane position to be for British skeleton.

"It goes to show that as a team we're doing something right."

Speaking the day after claiming gold, with his medal around his neck, Weston added that his new title of Olympic champion has "definitely not sunk in" just yet.

He said: "I don't think I've had a proper two seconds to kind of think to myself, and have some downtime to be like, 'what is this? What have I just won? What does it mean?'

"The emotions are still very high, I'm still very, very happy. But there's still a job to do on Sunday, so I can't let it get too much as well."

Weston will take part in the mixed team relay on Sunday, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Watch every event of Milano Cortina 2026 live on discovery+. Available across all subscription plans, starting at £3.99.

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