BRITAIN’S Matt Weston is poised for the podium after setting the pace in the opening two runs of the men’s skeleton competition at the Winter Olympics today.

Weston posted a new track record of 56.21 seconds on his first run at the Cortina Sliding Centre, with that time broken twice more before he again laid down a new marker of 55.88s to end the day on a combined time of one minute 52.09s, 0.3s ahead of Axel Jungk.

Weston, who is a double world champion, said: “I think I’m pretty happy with the way it’s gone.

“There’s still things that I can improve on which I think is an extremely lucky and fortunate place to be. The fact that I want to improve, I want to chase, there’s still things that I can get time out of.

“But being in first and being in that position is a great place to be.”

Teammate Marcus Wyatt sits in seventh place on a total time of 1:53.21, 1.12s behind Weston and 0.66s off the medals.

He said: “I’m definitely capable of picking up some of that time and fixing those mistakes. It’s just a case of executing tomorrow when it matters most.

“I’m not going to chase, I’m not going to try and think drastic. I’m just going to turn up and do what I try to do every time.”

The competition concludes with two final runs this evening, with the total time of all four heats deciding the winner.