From Lillehammer, NOR
(December 12, 2025) – Matt Weston slid to his second straight gold medal to start the 2025/2026 Olympic season as he squeaked out a victory over Germany’s Axel Jungk in Lillehammer.
Weston was the eighth slider off in the first heat and slid to a 51.14 downtime, just a tenth off the track record set by Felix Seibel a few years back. The field stacked in behind him, with the heat finishing with a three-way tie between Seunggi Jung, Samy Maier, and Zheng Yin for second, just .11 behind.
Only .03 out of that three-way tie was Jungk, who had last won a medal a season ago on the Norwegian track. The Olympic silver medalist picked up .06 on his first heat start and put down a very quick and clean slide to take the lead ahead of China’s Qinwei Lin. That outstanding second effort was enough to not just pick off Lin, but also leapfrog all three men ahead of him, with Jung getting within .03 of the German.
Finally it was Weston’s turn for his second run. The Brit put down a start that was behind Jungk’s, and came back to the German early. However, the reigning world champion found the form he’d had in the first heat, and while his second run was a tick slower than Jungk’s, it was still enough to take his second gold to start the season, with Jungk silver, and Jung bronze.
Weston’s gold was the 22nd medal of his career, while Jungk’s silver was his best finish since Lillehammer two years ago.
Jung’s bronze was the Korean’s ninth medal of his career.
Maier took fourth, missing the medals by .06, with Lin fifth and Yin sixth.
Marcus Wyatt barely missed out on a top six with a pair of good slides to put two Brits well into the top ten in seventh. Jacob Salisbury came into the second heat at the back end of a logjam in the back half of the field, but he put down a strong second effort to move up from 22nd to 14th.
The United States was led by Austin Florian, who had a pair of top two starts on his way to a 15th place finish, tied with Italy’s Giovanni Marchetti. Dan Barefoot finished 24th, tied with Austria’s Alexander Schlintner, while Nick Tucker suffered mostly from a late start draw and finished 27th.
Two races into the World Cup season, Weston leads Maier by 48 points. Jungk is third, Jung fourth, and Yin fifth.
Results:
| Pos | Name | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Matt Weston | GBR | 8 | 4.65 | 4.70 | 51.14 | 51.44 | 1:42.58 |
| 2 | Axel Jungk | GER | 1 | 4.74 | 4.68 | 51.28 | 51.35 | 1:42.63 |
| 3 | Seunggi Jung | KOR | 5 | 4.73 | 4.73 | 51.25 | 51.41 | 1:42.66 |
| 4 | Samuel Maier | AUT | 7 | 4.83 | 4.81 | 51.25 | 51.47 | 1:42.72 |
| 5 | Qinwei Lin | CHN | 20 | 4.59 | 4.60 | 51.38 | 51.41 | 1:42.79 |
| 6 | Zheng Yin | CHN | 6 | 4.70 | 4.70 | 51.25 | 51.59 | 1:42.84 |
| 7 | Marcus Wyatt | GBR | 16 | 4.67 | 4.65 | 51.48 | 51.38 | 1:42.86 |
| 8 | Wenhao Chen | CHN | 2 | 4.75 | 4.68 | 51.51 | 51.45 | 1:42.96 |
| 9 | Rasmus Johansen | DEN | 4 | 4.73 | 4.72 | 51.47 | 51.53 | 1:43.00 |
| 10 | Felix Keisinger | GER | 17 | 4.67 | 4.64 | 51.49 | 51.60 | 1:43.09 |
| 11 | Haifeng Zhu | CHN | 9 | 4.73 | 4.70 | 51.63 | 51.49 | 1:43.12 |
| 12 | Amedeo Bagnis | ITA | 31 | 4.70 | 4.71 | 51.48 | 51.65 | 1:43.13 |
| 13 | Mattia Gaspari | ITA | 14 | 4.90 | 4.89 | 51.63 | 51.58 | 1:43.21 |
| 14 | Jacob Salisbury | GBR | 19 | 4.68 | 4.66 | 51.86 | 51.56 | 1:43.42 |
| 15 | Giovanni Marchetti | ITA | 29 | 4.75 | 4.79 | 51.75 | 51.69 | 1:43.44 |
| 15 | Austin Florian | USA | 3 | 4.65 | 4.63 | 51.67 | 51.77 | 1:43.44 |
| 17 | Vinzenz Buff | SUI | 26 | 4.87 | 4.87 | 51.81 | 51.70 | 1:43.51 |
| 18 | Jisoo Kim | KOR | 12 | 4.68 | 4.66 | 51.81 | 51.75 | 1:43.56 |
| 19 | Florian Auer | AUT | 24 | 4.92 | 4.92 | 51.81 | 51.76 | 1:43.57 |
| 20 | Lukas Nydegger | GER | 10 | 4.91 | 4.90 | 51.67 | 51.92 | 1:43.59 |
| 21 | Christopher Grotheer | GER | 18 | 4.78 | 4.82 | 51.94 | 51.67 | 1:43.61 |
| 22 | Vladyslav Heraskevych | UKR | 15 | 4.86 | 4.83 | 51.87 | 51.77 | 1:43.64 |
| 23 | Emils Indriksons | LAT | 13 | 4.75 | 4.76 | 51.82 | 51.84 | 1:43.66 |
| 24 | Daniel Barefoot | USA | 27 | 4.79 | 4.82 | 51.95 | 51.79 | 1:43.74 |
| 24 | Alexander Schlintner | AUT | 28 | 4.84 | 4.79 | 51.83 | 51.91 | 1:43.74 |
| 26 | Lucas Defayet | FRA | 11 | 4.87 | 52.01 | |||
| 27 | Nicholas Tucker | USA | 30 | 4.81 | 52.10 | |||
| 28 | Davis Valdovskis | LAT | 23 | 4.87 | 52.21 | |||
| 29 | Yaroslav Lavreniuk | UKR | 22 | 4.94 | 52.32 | |||
| 30 | Valentino Buff | SUI | 21 | 5.17 | 52.78 | |||
| 31 | Joeri van Kuppeveld | NED | 32 | 4.86 | 52.89 | |||
| 32 | Timon Drahonovsky | CZE | 33 | 5.02 | 53.11 | |||
| 33 | Vladyslav Polyvach | POL | 25 | 5.05 | 53.15 |