Matt Weston Forced to Buy Beer After Record-Breaking Double Gold Sheds Light On Wholesome Tradition

On Sunday, skeleton racer Matt Weston became the first Briton to win two gold medals in a single Winter Olympics edition.

Matt Weston Forced to Buy Beer After Record-Breaking Double Gold Sheds Light On Wholesome Tradition

Matt Weston celebrating after he finished first in the mixed team skeleton (Image via Reuters)

In Short
  • Matt Weston won two gold medals in men's skeleton and mixed team events at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
  • He is required to buy beer for track workers after breaking five track records during the competition.
  • Team GB achieved its first gold medals in snow events, with Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale winning in mixed snowboard cross.

Great Britain has been one of the few delegations to have participated in every single edition of the Winter Olympics since its inception in 1924. In the 24 editions since Chamonix, Team GB has never had a single edition where they won more than a single gold.

In Milan-Cortina 2026, they have racked up three already, and two of those have the name Matt Weston. Weston, the 28-year-old from Surrey, won the men’s skeleton a few days ago and finished again on the podium with Tabitha Stoecker for a gold in mixed team.

In his ascent to history, Weston has racked up a tab in beer bills, not for him but for the track workers in Cortina Sliding Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, for every track record he has broken. Since he has broken them five times, four in his four individual runs and one to win the gold yesterday, the Briton has quite a quantity of beer to serve to continue the wholesome tradition.

For those who don’t know, the tradition is that every time you break a track record, you have to buy a crate of beers for all the track workers. I’ve broken five of them, so that’s a lot. It’s pretty insane to be honest: five race runs, five track records. I need to supply a lot of beer for the track workers, I think. 

Matt Weston said

That said, Weston also had plans for a celebration last night. He admitted that he was extremely proud of his achievement and confessed that he had “no idea what’s next, to be honest. Probably the pub I guess.”

His incredible multiple golds in the Winter Olympics 2026 have him breaking several distinctions, including being the first British man to win gold in the Winter Olympics since Christopher Dean in 1984 for ice dancing.

In terms of an individual gold, Weston would be the first British male to win since Robin Cousins won gold in 1980 in figure skating. With two golds, the Redhill native has joined former slider Lizzy Yarnold as the most successful Team GB athlete at the Winter Olympics.

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won Great Britain’s first gold in a snow event

The Milan Cortina Games 2026 have been a success for Team GB in an all-round sense. In the 12 gold medals won by Great Britain in the Winter Olympics before this year, none of them have been in a snow event. In figure skating, they had five, followed by three in skeleton and curling, and one each in bobsleigh and ice hockey.

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won gold for Team GB in the mixed snowboard cross (Image via The Guardian)
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won gold for Team GB in the mixed snowboard cross (Image via The Guardian)

They have won medals in snow events previously. Jenny Jones won a bronze in women’s snowboarding slopestyle in Sochi. In Pyeongchang, Billy Morgan and Izzy Watkins won bronze in men’s snowboard big air and women’s freeski slopestyle, respectively. On Sunday, after years, Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale came through in mixed snowboard cross to fetch their first gold.

[I’m feeling] immense relief. For me, but also the team. I think that’s what is amazing. And I think that we’ve made it — we’re Olympic champs.

Bankes said after the win

After disappointing individual events, the pair showed resilience in the team event. The pair had some pretty sickening route to the final. An early collision left Nightingale dazed, and Bankes had an emergency binding repair in the semi-final.

In the final, Nightingale’s composed run kept Team GB competitive before Bankes executed a tactically brilliant surge, taking advantage of the draft from the leader and precision to seize the lead late and clinch a landmark victory.

It was also a celebratory mood for Nightingale, who candidly admitted that he likes to drink too much, and he had no plans on sleeping that night.

Also Read: