Team GB's Matt Weston leads the men's skeleton after two heats at the Winter Olympics, with back-to-back track records of 56.21 and 55.88 seconds. He holds a three-tenths of a second lead over Germany's Axel Jungk, silver medallist in Beijing 2022, ahead of the final two runs on Friday evening.
Weston's focus remained on his performance despite the controversy surrounding Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych, whose Olympic accreditation was revoked by the IOC just 21 minutes before the race for refusing to compete without his helmet decorated with images of athletes killed during the Russian invasion. Weston said he only learned of the decision after his run.
“I’m really, really sad that he’s missed out on being able to compete,” Weston said of Heraskevych, whom he described as a friend. “He’d been sliding really, really well in training and I think he was going to put down some really, really good results. So I’m sad he didn’t get to race.”
Other competitors expressed support for Heraskevych. Israel’s Jared Firestone called him “a man with strong values,” while USA’s Daniel Barefoot said he was “shocked” by the disqualification. Latvia’s Emils Indriksons confirmed his team lodged an official protest, stating: “You should be able to express yourself how you want, and I don’t think that Heraskevych crossed any lines.”
Heraskevych has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Meanwhile, Weston remains focused on securing a medal for Great Britain, noting areas for improvement: “There’s still things that I can improve on, which I think is an extremely lucky and fortunate place to be.”
