Two golds for Britain on ‘Super Sunday’

Britain became the first Olympic champions in the skeleton mixed team event when individual men’s champion Matt Weston produced a superlative performance as he and Tabitha Stoecker set a track record with the final run at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday.

Germans Axel Jungk and Susanne Kreher, who both earned silver in the singles, edged out compatriots Christopher Grotheer and Jacqueline Pfeifer, who both won singles bronze, by 100th of a second in the battle for the minor medals.

It was another incredible performance by Weston, who found himself in fourth place, three-tenths adrift, after Stoecker lost time on the bottom stages of the run.

But, showing the skill and calmness that has brought him three successive World Cup titles and a first men’s Olympic skeleton gold for Britain, he blasted off at his start to make up the deficit almost immediately and then found the perfect line to win by 0.17 seconds.

“Luckily I felt like I knew what I needed to do,” Weston said. “I took a load of confidence from the individual event and I almost had to say to myself, ‘Be boring and just get the job done.

“It was probably my best run of the five, between the individuals. The individual event is amazing and I’m very pleased with that, but doing it as a team in an individual sport, and to have my teammate by my side being Olympic champions, and for me two times, is absolutely mental.”

Stoecker, who finished fifth in the individual event, must have thought she had blown it when she climbed off her sled to see a “four” next to her name, but Weston came to the rescue.

“Thanks,” she said. “I can’t believe it. It’s a team effort and when Matt came down and we were in the green, I was just in shock.”

Britain topped the World Cup rankings with Marcus Wyatt and Stoecker together but opted on Sunday to break that team up and reprise the pairing that finished second in the last two world championships.

It proved an inspired decision as Weston became the first Briton to win two medals at a Winter Olympics, capping an amazing week after the disappointment of his 15th-place finish in the singles four years ago.

Britain wins mixed team cross gold

Britain’s Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won gold in the mixed team snowboard cross at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, bouncing back from disappointment in their individual races.

Under a clear blue sky in the alpine resort of Livigno, Italy’s Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva claimed silver, while France’s Lea Casta and Loan Bozzolo earned bronze.

Bankes had finished 13th in the women’s snowboard cross final on Friday, while Nightingale ended in 26th place in the men’s event the previous day.

The winning pair were all smiles on Sunday, however, pumping their fists in the air after climbing onto the top of the podium before closing their eyes to sing the national anthem.

Nightingale, 24, said it felt “unbelievable” to be wearing an Olympic gold medal around his neck. “It’s hard to describe in words. We both put in so much hard work. It just feels amazing.”

Bankes, 30, said her coach told her to go out and have fun after her earlier loss. “I had to pick myself back up and do it for the team as well,” she said.

The British, Italian and French medallists capped their victories with group hugs and posed for selfies as France’s Bozzolo took out his mobile phone.

“I have a medal now, I will try to take more medals in the next Olympics. It’s going to be in France. It will be a new motivation for my career,” the 26-year-old Frenchman said.

Britain were in second place after the first leg of the final run by the men, but Bankes secured them the gold in the second run after she overtook France’s Casta