Team GB hero Matt Weston has opened up about his journey from almost quitting sport to finding himself a front runner for BBC Sports Personality of the Year after winning two gold medals at the Winter Olympics

Matt Weston has admitted it would be "insane" if he became the first Winter Olympian in more than 40 years to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Weston, 29, is the fourth favourite with the bookmakers to pick up the SPOTY prize after winning two gold medals at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games back in February.

The Surrey-born superstar won both the individual and mixed team skeleton events, becoming only the second Team GB athlete to secure two Winter Olympic gold medals, after Lizzy Yarnold.

He set four course records as he raced to his individual victory, finishing 0.88 seconds ahead of Germany's Axel Jungk. Realising his Olympic dream was an emotional and unforgettable moment, but there was more to come.

Just two days later, Weston celebrated alongside Tabitha Stoecker after clinching mixed team gold in thrilling fashion, running a final time of 1:59:36, 0.17 seconds ahead of Germany's Susanne Kreher and Jungk, and setting a new track record in the process.

It wrapped up a historic and record-breaking Winter Olympic Games for Weston and his achievements have not gone unnoticed. Indeed, as well as being given the freedom of his hometown, Crowborough, and an honorary doctor degree at the University of Kent, he is among the frontrunners to win the most prestigious honour in British sport.

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Weston is, at the time of writing, priced at 11/1 with bet365 to claim the SPOTY award in December, with only Amy Hunt (5/6), Josh Kerr (10/3) and Harry Kane (7/2) ahead of him. Jude Bellingham (14/1) and Saffie Osborne (33/1) complete the top six.

Speaking to The Mirror about the potential of winning SPOTY, Weston said: "I think the honour for me, like you said at the start, there has been so many pinch me moments and so many people that I've met and situations that I've been in that I never thought would be possible.

"I do a sport where we don't get much publicity. When you compare us to footballers and things like that, we're like the 0.1 per cent of the publicity and the time and effort that, well, the viewership that they get. And the fact that my name is up there with some huge athletics and football names, like I'm next to Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham! Just to have my name on these lists that are going out there at the moment, that's an honour in itself for me. I'm really happy with that.

"The thought of winning it? I don't know, I don't know. It would be insane. I've already had some amazing responses from the British public and the support that they have given me. I feel very honoured to be a part of that and feel very grateful. And the fact that there's a chance that the British public could do that for me as well would be honestly insane.

"I'm struggling to find the words, really, of how much that would mean to me. It would mean a lot for not just myself, but my family, my friends, the team as well. The recognition would be me going up there, but actually what it would mean for my teammates, for the coaching staff, for the support staff, for everyone who's been a part of my journey getting me to this point. I think it would mean a lot to be honest."

If Weston came out on top, he would become the first Winter Olympian to win SPOTY since ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, following their iconic gold-winning performance at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.

While he does feel he has the support from the British public heading into SPOTY, he believes the timing of winning the gold medals won't do him "any favours".

"I think I do a very unique sport and it was a very unique situation what happened at the Olympics and the response from the public was absolutely crazy," Weston said. "I think I am kind of in a bit of a strong point with that.

"I think the only thing that doesn't do me any favours is that the Olympics was in February and Sports Personality of the Year is in December. So I'm almost as far away as you can be from Sports Personality of the Year, from my achievements.

"But the fact that my name is still up there, I think kind of shocks me sometimes at how much of an impact that might have had on the British public as well as myself. So I think we're in a good position, but like all these things, I never want to believe anything until I'm actually there experiencing it. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I'm just saying yes to everything and revelling in kind of what's unfolding in front of me."

Weston's double-gold medal haul in Milano Cortina was even more remarkable when just four years before, he finished 15th in the individual skeleton event at the Beijing Winter Olympics and thought about quitting the sport.

But Weston bounced back to win gold at the World Championships in 2023 and 2025, as well as gold at the European Championships in 2023, giving him huge motivation and confidence to come out on top at the Winter Olympics.

"When I first came back from Beijing, I almost wanted to quit the sport," the two-time world champion added. "It was pretty gutting for me. It was really disappointing. I felt like I'd let myself down, the country down, family, team, all that sort of thing.

"It was, yeah, you kind of want to go to the Games and you want it to be this amazing kind of fairy tale of an experience, which kind of, in a way, it was. I actually loved my time at the Beijing Olympics, just apart from the racing side of things, which is almost the most important part.

"But after I'd given myself some time to kind of decompress and accept what had happened, I kind of used that disappointment and turned it into like a fire to like go, 'this isn't the end of my Olympic journey, this isn't the end of my story within skeleton' that I want to make.

"I want to make something better of it, and I used that as kind of like a fire to give me the motivation and dedication to be able to go out there and make sure that this wasn't going to happen again and that I was going to leave no stone unturned on the way to Milano Cortina."

After suffering disappointment in Beijing and a string of long-term injuries, Weston sought help from a psychologist. He had been struggling with his mental health and wanted to ensure his head was in the "right place to go and perform".

Weston admitted: "I mean, the team, there's certain members of the team that were really there for me, as well as I think in the past few years I've worked with psychologists as well. I've worked with two currently. One's a sports psych and one's a clinical psych. And when I first started working with them, especially like we worked as a team, like a three-way conversation where me as an athlete and me as a person are almost like two different people.

"So we need to have the whole complete package in the best place to be able to go out and perform. It's not just focusing just on sport, it's about life as well, because that can creep into your performance. So we've worked a lot.

"It's been a pretty tough journey to get to this point, but I think a lot of my success and a lot of the consistency which I've had is a result of working with the psychologists and making sure my head is in the right place to go out there and perform. And I think that that made a big difference going into this Games, because there was obviously a lot of pressure on my shoulders going in. I've been world number one for the past three years, so I was able to handle that really well because of the work I've put in with the psychologists."

Back in March, fresh after winning in Milano Cortina, Weston admitted he hasn't thought about whether he will aim for Team GB's outright gold medal record at the 2030 French Alps Games. He is level on two with retired skeleton star Yarnold, who was victorious at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.

But now, Weston has revealed that he does "like the idea" of becoming Team GB’s outright most successful Winter Olympian and has "thought about" it.

"A bit of both, to be honest," Weston continued, when asked if he has thought about the record going into the 2030 Games. "Obviously that's come into my mind, but my main priority this year has been enjoying it. I've put nine years of dedication, hard work and sacrifice into this. So I've missed weddings, funerals, birthdays, and so much important family time. I've really tried to, as much as I can, catch up with that and enjoy the kind of reward from winning the Olympics, which is still really weird for me to say.

"But I have had a thought about, like at the moment, obviously in terms of medal tally, I'm tied with Lizzie Arnold for the overall most successful British Winter Olympian ever, which is, there's a lot of things that I'm saying that are still very crazy for me to say. That kind of doesn't feel real, but there is a lot of temptation for me to go out there and be like, well, actually, like, I quite like winning.

"So I quite like the idea of being Britain's outright most successful [Winter Olympian]. So that is something that definitely is playing on my mind, but at the moment I'm kind of focusing on getting my body fixed, as well as spending time with family, friends and my new wife as well."

While getting married his wife Alex, Weston has spent the last couple of months on the treatment table, having had surgeries on his shoulder and his hip. But, after recovering, he is now focused on the winter season and getting back to competing following his heroics in Milano Cortina.