BRITAIN’S Matt Weston is the World Cup men’s skeleton overall champion, again. And for the first time, Belgium’s Kim Meylemans is the World Cup women’s overall champion.

Locking up their status as favourites for Olympic gold at next month’s Milan Cortina Games, Weston and Meylemans clinched their season-long titles today in the final races of the World Cup season at Altenberg, Germany.

Meylemans was third in today’s women’s race, behind Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer and Susanne Kreher. That was more than enough to ensure Meylemans would end the season ahead of Pfeifer — a three-time World Cup overall champion — in the season standings, and Britain’s Tabitha Stoecker finished the season third.

Britain’s Marcus Wyatt won today’s men’s race and Weston finished in a three-way tie for second with German teammates Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk.

Weston took the overall title with China’s Zheng Yin second and Wyatt placing third.

The US skeleton team won’t formally announce its Olympic team until Monday, but today’s finishes make it somewhat obvious that Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro — the top two American women in the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation rankings — will be headed to the Milan Cortina Games.

Curtis was 17th today, two spots ahead of US teammate Sara Roderick and three spots ahead of Ro — who teamed with Austin Florian to win last year’s world mixed skeleton championship. Florian also is a likely Olympic team nominee and was 14th in today’s men’s race.

USA Bobsled and Skeleton was waiting for word from the IBSF if it was getting a second men’s Olympic quota spot as well.

Up next on the sliding sports calendar, the Luge World Cup continues with men’s and women’s singles races on Saturday in Oberhof, Germany, while the Bobsled World Cup features monobob and two-man events in Altenberg, Germany. The Skeleton World Cup season has concluded, with Olympic test races scheduled to take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from February 12 to 15.