Weston and Stoecker take stunning gold in team skeleton

The skeleton mixed team event is making its debut in these Winter Olympics. Here is how it works: one female athlete and one male athlete from the same country compete together as one team, individually racing at speeds of up to 130km/h face-first on their sleds, steering subtly with their head, shoulders and feet.

The start order will be the female athlete first, followed by the male athlete. Although racing one straight after the other, it is not quite a relay. After completing one run, there is a reaction start once the track is clear for the team-mate – after a countdown of five red lights, the signals change to green, the clock is running and the next competitor must start their run as quickly as possible.

The two run times are added together to give each team a total time. The team with the lowest overall time will be the winners. No second heats like the individual event.

Of the 15 competing duos, Great Britain are one of five nations with two teams. Freya Tarbit and Marcus Wyatt go off fourth from last, possessing an outside chance of a medal.

The USA are the reigning world champions, beating GB’s Stoecker and Weston by 0.10 seconds last March. Germany’s Jacqueline Pfeifer and Christopher Grotheer are also contenders for gold, going off as penultimate competitors.

The event starts at 5.20pm GMT.