The men's skeleton competition got going early on Thursday at Cortina Sliding Centre, and one racer proved why he’s No. 1 in the world.

Starting 1st on Run 1, reigning world champion Matt Weston set the pace off the bat with a track record of 56.21 seconds. Sliding last on the second run, Weston went three tenths faster, setting another track record and remaining at the top to end Day 1.

RESULTS

Defending Olympic silver medalist Axel Jungk was one of the few sliders to come close to challenging Weston, setting a time just six hundredths behind the Briton’s leading pace on Run 1. Jungk remained in 2nd, but heads into Run 3 with a 0.3-second deficit to Weston.

Beijing 2022 gold medalist Christopher Grotheer was 4th after Run 1 but improved by two tenths on Run 2, setting a track record in the process. That record was eventually snatched back by Weston, but Grotheer will sleep on a provisional bronze medal position ahead of Friday’s final run.

Chen Wenhao of China ended the day in 4th, 0.13 seconds off of Grotheer’s 3rd-place pace. China has one skeleton medal in its history, which came courtesy of Yan Wengang’s bronze on home soil at Beijing 2022.

Italian Amadeo Bagnis, who was the very first athlete to take a run at Cortina Sliding Centre when the track opened, went 3rd-fastest on Run 1 and ended the day in 5th, two tenths of a second out of bronze medal position.

Twenty four of the 25 original entrants competed after Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.

China’s Lin Qinwei and Yin Zheng and Korea’s Jung Seunggi put on a show when they set the exact same time on their second run (1:53.22). Jung and Yin set the times back-to-back as they started 16th and 17th, respectively. The trio tied for 8th place after Run 2.

Great Britain’s Marcus Wyatt, starting right after Yin, one-upped the three and edged their time by 0.01 seconds.

Austin Florian was one of two Americans making his Olympic skeleton debut at Cortina Sliding Centre, alongside Dan Barefoot.

Florian set a start record at 4.51 seconds on Run 1, but lost a lot of time down the stretch and ended his opening effort in 14th place.

The 31-year-old from Southington, Connecticut, proceeded to best both his own start record (4.48 seconds) and improve on his first run by nearly four tenths of a second. Florian ended the day in 13th.

Barefoot was 18th-fastest on his first run and 19th-fastest after his second.

The men's skeleton competition continues on Friday, Feb. 13, with Run 3 slated for 1:30 p.m. ET. The final run will follow at 3:05 p.m. ET.