Matt Weston wins bronze behind Christopher Grotheer, Kimberley Bos pulls off Winterberg three-peat

Britain’s Matt Weston mounted a magnificent comeback to claim skeleton bronze as Christopher Grotheer won the first World Cup of 2023 in Winterberg.

Weston moved from seventh after heat one into the medals to claim a third medal of the 2022-23 World Cup season finishing just behind German pair Grotheer and Axel Jungk.

Dutchwoman Kimberley Bos defied the rain to win her third World Cup race with all three victories coming in Winterberg.

Grotheer topped the podium for a second time this season with compatriot Jungk in second, the two had ended the first run tied for second before Grotheer pulled away in the second heat.

Weston dusted off the new year cobwebs with a solid first run in Germany as Seunggi Jung of South Korea took the early lead in a time of 56.82.

Jung went from top to bottom in the second run by posting the slowest run of the entire field to finish in 13th.

China’s Yan Wengang also tied for second after the first run in a time of 56.88 before he too made way for Weston with a time of 58.00 on the second run to finish fifth.

Weston’s compatriot Marcus Wyatt finished only 0.13 seconds behind his time of 1:54.72 to end in fourth, improving by four places as well, but just missing out on a medal to add to his gold and bronze already this year.

Bos overhauled Canada’s Mirela Rahneva to win the women’s race by just 0.06 seconds with Hannah Neise beating out German team-mate Tina Hermann for bronze to ensure the home crowd completed the set.

Britain’s Freya Tarbit finished seventh on World Cup debut as the early runners benefited from a dryer track at the beginning of run two.