Tunbridge Wells’ Matt Weston and Thanet’s Taylor Lawrence have been included in Team GB’s skeleton and bobsleigh squads for the Winter Olympics.
The Games, in Milano Cortina, Italy, take place from February 6-22 and will be Weston’s second after Beijing 2022 where he finished 15th.
He couldn’t be in better form, too, after last week becoming the first British man to win three IBSF Overall World Cup titles with victory in Altenberg, Germany. That success followed consecutive World Championship golds.
“I couldn’t really have wished for too much of a better season going into the Olympics,” said Weston, who partners Honiton’s Marcus Wyatt.
“I’m obviously picking up on the things I need to improve because I’m a perfectionist, but I’m pleased with how the year has gone for me personally and for us as a team, especially after my injury in the summer.
“We missed out on having fans on the ground for Beijing so there’s an added sense of excitement this time around and I’m really excited to have friends and family out there with me.”
Lawrence, meanwhile, is in the two and four-man bobsleigh squads for Italy. He has 25 World Cup medals to his name and, like Weston, made his Olympic debut four years ago, finishing sixth in the four-man event.
He will be partnered in the two-man by Crawley’s Brad Hall, the duo winning World Cup bronze in St Moritz earlier this month.
Natalie Dunman, Team GB team leader for bobsleigh and skeleton at Milano Cortina 2026, said: “We head to Cortina after a really positive Olympic Cycle in which both sports have won multiple World Championship and World Cup medals.
“The squad have demonstrated their strength in depth, with those medals shared across both bobsleigh and skeleton and across the men’s and women’s teams, and the athletes have regularly shown that they can compete with the best in the world.”
Squads: Skeleton: Men: Matt Weston (Tunbridge Wells), Marcus Wyatt (Honiton); Women: Amelia Coltman (Melton Mowbray), Freya Tarbit (Derby), Tabby Stoecker (Highgate). Mixed: TBC after individual events.
Bobsleigh: Two-Man: Taylor Lawrence (Thanet), Brad Hall (Crawley); Four-Man: Hall, Leon Greenwood (Bately), Lawrence, Greg Cackett (Redhill); Two-Women: Adele Nicoll (Welshpool), Ashleigh Nelson (Stoke-on-Trent); Monobob: Nicoll.
