Tunbridge Wells skeleton slider Matt Weston was despondent after a slow start left him more than two seconds off the pace at the Olympics.

The 24-year-old, who won Britain’s first World Cup gold in 13 years back in November, managed a combined time of 2min02.49sec on his first two runs down the track in Beijing.

That left him 2.16 seconds off the standard set by Germany’s world champion Christopher Grotheer and facing an uphill battle to secure a high placing on his Olympic debut.

“I could probably look at it and look at about ten or 12 mistakes that I made and I’m really not happy,” said Weston.

“But at the same time you’ve got to enjoy it. I’m really happy to be at the Olympics competing and representing my country.

“I’m not happy, I’m hopefully going to go away, look at the video review and come back even stronger.”

Weston’s second run clocking of 1.01.15 was the fastest he’d managed down the Yanqing National Sliding Centre track at the Games, including six training efforts.

It is the only track in the world featuring a 360-degree turn and poses unique challenges that Weston is continuing to get to grips with.

“This track is extremely punishing,” he said.

“Normally if you make a mistake on a track you might lose a couple of hundredths, maybe a tenth of a second.

“You make a mistake here and it’s like half a second here, half a second there, so it’s really punishing.

“But at the same time it’s also really rewarding when you get it right because it 100% shows in your time.

“In one of the training runs, I slipped on my back. It’s one of those ones that doesn’t hurt but it’s very difficult to get it right.

“It’s just a very, very fine margin for error. You have to do the correct skills and bring them out at exactly the right time otherwise you either hit the walls or you’re off line.

“There’s very small gaps where you can actually get it right and shoot out.

“It’s definitely tricky, it’s a really good track for challenging sliding which I actually really enjoy.

"I’m just hoping I can get it a bit more right tomorrow.”

Weston will have at least one more shot at climbing the standings and will qualify for a fourth if he is placed in the top 20 after the third.

“All I’m hoping for is to keep improving,” he said. “If I have a run I’m satisfied with then I think I can jump up a few.”

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