Matt Weston insists he is unconcerned by the helmet row that has erupted ahead of his bid to win skeleton gold at the Winter Olympics.
The British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association will learn on Friday if they have been successful in an appeal against the verdict that Team GB‘s sliders are using illegal equipment.
That matter was put before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday, but Weston, the world champion and heavy favourite ahead of his team-mate Marcus Wyatt, played down the repercussions if the pair are forced to revert to the design they used to dominate the most recent World Cup season.
He said: ‘It doesn’t really affect me too much, the equipment I have been using all year is what I can use at the Olympics and that hasn’t gone too badly for me.
‘I’m not concerned – I’m just excited to get racing. It’s not getting in the way or anything, I’ve got other things I can focus on to kind of maximise my performance coming into the Olympics – this is an icing on the cake but I still need to make the cake at the moment.
‘This is a sport that is won by hundredths of a second so for us as GB and the team we have around us, we’re constantly innovating from race week to race week. We try to push the boundaries and find those gains, this is just one of the parts of innovation we do as GB and I think we do it pretty well.’
Matt Weston insists he is not letting the row over Team GB’s equipment affect his bid for gold
The helmet issue ignited last week after Britain’s skeleton contingent unveiled their new design on a training run at St Moritz. Team sources have indicated that the aerodynamic new helmet was built in line with rules that will be introduced next year, but were deemed non-compliant with the regulations currently in place by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.
While a defeat in court would be a significant embarrassment for a British team that prides itself on innovation, and indeed has been funded to the tune of £5.8m for this Olympic cycle, they would have a strong fallback. In the 2025-26 World Cup season, Weston won five of seven races on his way to the title and Wyatt took the other two – in other words, the existing gear wasn’t substandard.
Weston added: ‘All of our success has been with our current helmet, so for me it is the tiniest little thing in the background.
‘If it is legal then great, but I’m not worried – whatever we end up wearing, I think we’re in with a great shout of bringing some medals home.’