Weston wants World double

Matt Weston has already made history this season but he won’t be happy unless he adds World Championship gold to his Overall World Cup crown this week.

Weston became the first British man to win back-to-back World Cup titles when he claimed top spot over eight top tier races across Asia and Europe as he retained the title he won for the first time the previous year.

Now he wants to go even further by doing something no other British slider - male or female - has ever done before: winning multiple World Championship golds.

The 28-year-old took top spot in the season showpiece in St Moritz in 2023 and came within a whisker of repeating the feat in Winterberg last year when he had to settle for silver behind Germany’s Olympic Champion Christopher Grotheer.

Even Britain’s double Olympic queen Lizzy Yarnold only won one World Championship title in 2015, with 2006 Olympic silver medalist, Shelley Rudman (2013), and her husband, Kristan Bromley (2009), the only other Brits to have been crowned champions of the world.

“I set myself two competitive goals this season: one was to retain the Overall World Cup and the other was to get the World Championship title back. I’ve ticked one off but there’s one more to go,” said Weston, who races in Lake Placid, USA on Thursday and Friday having only finished outside the medals once so far this season.

There is undoubtedly some unfinished business from Winterberg last year. I definitely felt that the World Championship title was mine and I somehow lost it. That’s added to my motivation to come into this race and win it.

“I’m pretty pleased with how the results have gone this season. There’s been a lot of learning, there are a lot of things we’ve been trying to work on ahead of the big one with the Olympics in Cortina next year. The fact that we know we’re working on these things for the future but are still getting results and we’re winning medals is a pretty confidence inducing place to be.

“It’s difficult to reflect during the season because we’re so focussed week in, week out but I can’t deny that winning the Overall World Cup two years in a row is definitely a good thing. Winning the World Championships is what matters now, though, and I’m doing everything I can to do that.”

If Weston is to win this week, he’ll have to get to grips with a notoriously tricky track.

Lake Placid demands total focus and concentration for the duration of every run and, with the World Championships double the length of a normal World Cup race with four heats over two days rather than two over one, Weston knows consistency will be key in the US.

“This is a very, very technical track. You make one mistake and you lose a lot of speed,” added Weston.

“Consistency over the four runs is going to be really key. It wouldn’t even surprise me if we saw someone win it without even having the fastest run in any one heat.

It’s all about being calm and relaxed on the sled but it’s a challenging track to do that on because it’s bumpy and technical and you don’t ever get a let off. On most tracks, there’s a small section where you can reset but there isn’t one on this track. It’s full on from the very top right to the finish and it’s mentally demanding.

“We’re in a pretty good place, though. Training has gone okay and I’ve clicked well with the track but you can’t really tell what everyone else is doing until race day. I’m working hard and trying to make improvements every day.”

That consistency that Weston will need this week was clear when he won the World title two years ago when he triumphed by almost two seconds in Switzerland.

It’s also been apparent throughout the current season in which he’s won two gold, three silver and two bronze medals and only missed the podium once in Lillehammer last month.

It’s a far cry from his second World Championships four years ago, though, when he was fifth in Run 1 and seventh in Run 2 before a major mistake when pushing the limits in Run 3 meant he finished 23^rd overall.

Weston admits he’s come a long way since then, with his experiences over the last few seasons - plus the advice and guidance of his coach and six-time World Champion Martins Dukurs - ensuring he’s arrived in America in a very good place.

“Gaining more experience in the sport has definitely helped me in some many ways. I’ve been through lots of different situations on and off the track and I know what to do to help me be consistent.

“When I had that bad run in the 2021 World Championships, I was still very new to the sport and I was finding my feet. Now I feel more comfortable; I know where I’m at; I know where my abilities lie; and I’m on equipment that allows me to slide how I want to. That helps with consistency because I know it does what I want it to do when I want it to and that helps me stay calm on the sled.

I’m very close to my coaches and I had a conversation with Martins about this sort of thing the other day. The fact that we have someone on our team who has been through basically every situation there is is invaluable. You can’t put a price tag on having access to that level of experience.

“I can go to him with questions or tell him how I’m feeling or say, ‘this is what’s going on for me’ and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, I remember I had a similar situation and this is how I dealt with it and this is what worked for me’. I can then take that information and make it work for me. To have someone to talk to and learn from like that like is pretty amazing.

“Finishing eighth in the last World Cup race was disappointing but we’ve done a lot of reviews and we’ve had lots of conversations about what happened and why it happened. We’ve identified things to stop that happening again and to say that eighth is by far my worst result of the season is a pretty good place to be. I’m excited about this week and I know what I need to do to get the result I want.”