Team GB came to the Olympics at Milano-Cortina 2026 with higher hopes than ever before of success. That meant surpassing the five medals won at the Olympics in 2014 and 2018.
21 world-level medals in the last Olympic cycle mean British athletes are statistically better at winter sports now, but they still have to compete and beat the powerhouse winter sport nations.
There have been seven Olympic medals across the last six Games for Team GB. While the women have led the way at the Olympics, in 2026 it's firmly felt that the men should be bringing home some medals.
When it comes to skeleton, Team GB have become one of the best, if not the best nation at this sport, despite not actually having any sliding tracks in the UK.
Matt Weston - Team GB's main representative - is the current World Champion, and this past season, he has won more World Cup races than anyone else. His teammate Marcus Wyatt is never far behind.
The two compete together, train together, often live close together and clearly know one another extremely well. Rather than wind each other up, the super confident pair use one another to push themselves further and faster.
"When I'm racing, Marcus is obviously one of the first people I want to beat," Weston told Your Site. "I know that if I'm beating him, I'm having a good day!
"The reason we are competing for those one and two spots in the world is because we work so well together. We're sharing lines, we're sharing equipment, we're sharing basically everything we do. The fact that we are such a solid team shows in our results.
"In the changing room we have like a GB corner wherever we go, whereas you see other nations dotted around not really sat next to each other.
"We're one solid group, one solid team, sharing ideas, sharing thoughts and processes and that's what kind of separates us really."
Wyatt said: "It actually works really, really well. We push each other. We've both said that we probably wouldn't be in the position we are now had we not had each other the last four, five, six, seven, eight years.
"We share ideas, we tell each other what we're doing on the track, but it makes each other better.
"It's a friendly rivalry - on race day, it's me versus the clock. I can't affect his race, it's not motor racing, I can't push him offline so if he turns up and has a better day, I'll shake your hand.
"But I'm going to try and get you next week. That's how we work, we operate as friends and as close rivals but it's all super friendly and we've brought the best out of each other."
Weston is the Olympic Gold medal favourite, and Wyatt won't be far behind. You wouldn't be at all surprised if it's Wyatt who on the day just gets his nose in front first.
"Because of those results, the kind of confidence is there… So everything's heightened, obviously it's the Olympics - there's that added attention, there's that added nerve to it, but I'm just so looking forward to it," Weston said.
"I think the most overriding feeling I've got is excited. I think there's a lot of potential for success, not just from me, but from the whole team."
While a fleeting meeting suggests the two have similarities, they are doubtless very different people, but their journey to Skeleton shares a pathway.
Both were extremely good at other sports before being spotted by a Talent ID programme with the British skeleton set-up. Matt Weston was a talented rugby player and pretty scary at Taekwondo, while Wyatt was on the verge of becoming a professional footballer.
"It's a lifestyle - it's not a job," Wyatt added. "Every waking hour I am thinking about whether it's nutrition or sleep.
"I've put my normal life to the side, because there'll be times to go and have a beer with my friends when I'm retired one day.
"I think it's that dedication has helped me just continue to take those small steps and that's what we have to do because my dream is to win gold… I think it's possible."
