IBSF World Championships 2023: Britain’s Matt Weston ‘considered quitting’ before winning gold

IBSF World Championships 2023: Britain’s Matt Weston ‘considered quitting’ before winning gold


Although initially inspired by his ‘sports mad’ father Tom, Weston discovered a personal passion for taekwondo from a young age and it rapidly became more than a hobby.

He achieved European, World Cup and national successes in the non-Olympic ITF style of taekwondo before a back injury, at the age of 17, saw him switch his focus to rugby.

“I was at quite a high level (in taekwondo), but it all stopped when I had that stress fracture from basically overworking,” he reveals. “I reached an OK level with rugby, but I was a bit lost.

“I heard about this UK Sport Talent ID programme called ‘Discover Your Gold’ in 2017 and I had no expectations, but I wanted to see what I could still do.”

Weston laughs when it is suggested that rugby and ultimately skeleton were perhaps odd choices given he was targeting “body preservation” at that stage.

“Ha, yes skeleton is so brutal, it’s nothing like as smooth as you see when you watch the Olympics,” he says. “You get so many bruises and have to wear ankle protectors on your shoulders when you start out.”

Weston could have been “drafted” to short track speed skating, rugby sevens, track cycling or rowing, which were all part of the programme, but he was ultimately delighted to find his skills were best suited to skeleton.

“The adrenaline, it’s like no other sport,” he said, with real passion. “The rush of going 130-140 km/h blows everything else out of the water.”



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