First skeleton test race on controversial new Olympic sliding track won by Weston

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The first official test race on the controversial sliding track being rebuilt for the Milan Cortina Olympics was won by skeleton world champion Matt Weston of Britain on Friday.

Weston beat European champion Samuel Maier of Austria by 0.15 seconds after two runs in the head-first discipline down the Eugenio Monti track.

It was also the opening skeleton World Cup of the Olympic season.

Yin Zheng of China finished third, 0.18 behind, after setting the first track record at 56.79 seconds in his opening run.

Junior world champion Lukas Nydegger of Germany achieved his best World Cup result in fourth, missing the podium by 0.05.

The top American finisher was Austin Florian in 10th while Cortina native Mattia Gaspari led host Italy in 17th.

In the women's event, Jaqcueline Pfeifer claimed her first World Cup win in almost five years. The three-time World Cup overall winner was 0.23 ahead of German teammate and Olympic champion Hannah Neise.

Kim Meylemans of Belgium finished 0.32 behind in third.

Also, the British duo of Tabitha Stoecker and Marcus Wyatt won the mixed team event that will make its Olympic debut this season.

Bobsled races are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

While the competitive part of the track in Cortina is ready, surrounding areas are still being constructed and no spectators were allowed in for the test event.

The International Olympic Committee didn’t want millions to be spent rebuilding the track in Cortina, which closed in 2008 due to rising maintenance costs. The IOC suggested holding sliding events for these Games in nearby Austria or Switzerland instead.

But the Italian government pushed ahead anyway and is spending 118 million euros ($136 million) remaking the venue.

The Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 6-22.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

A night view of the Eugenio Monti sliding track during a three day skeleton and bobsled World Cup stage and Olympic test event in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Ukraine's Yaroslav Lavreniuk takes the start at a training session ahead of a three-day skeleton and bobsled World Cup stage and Olympic test event in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

South Korean skeleton athlete Jung Seunggi, right, has a photo taken in front of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics countdown clock, in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A man works on the track ahead of a three-day skeleton and bobsled World Cup stage and Olympic test event in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

South Korea's Jung Seunggi takes the start at a training session ahead of a three day skeleton and bobsled World Cup stage and Olympic test event in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A judge has ruled an 18-year-old man charged with murder in the killing of a paddleboarder in Maine is competent to stand trial.

The death of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart, 48, of St. George, last year shocked the community around Crawford Pond in rural Union, Maine. Authorities charged Deven Young of Frankfort, Maine, with murder in Stewart's death in July, about two weeks after Stewart's body was discovered.

The court system has thus far treated Young as a juvenile. Prosecutors in the state want to charge Young, who was 17 at the time of Stewart's death and is 18 now, as an adult. First, he needed to be deemed competent to stand trial, and a judge ruled this week that he is.

"The court finds that the defendant is competent to proceed based on the court’s finding that the juvenile has a rational, as well as a factual, understanding of the proceedings and a sufficient present ability to consult with legal counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding," wrote Maine District Court Judge Eric J. Walker on Wednesday.

Young is due back in court on May 7. Police have said a medical examiner determined Stewart's cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Jeremy Pratt, an attorney for Young, declined to comment on Thursday. Prosecutors in the case also declined to comment Thursday.

Authorities have not publicly stated a possible motive in the case. Court documents about the case, which were briefly made public before being removed from the state's courts website, contained little detail other than stating that Young “did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of another human being, namely Sunshine Stewart.”

Audio recordings by the Waldo County Sheriff's Office that were obtained by news agencies earlier this year provided details about Young's history of violent behavior and mental health challenges prior to Stewart's death. The Portland Press Herald reported that Young had been waiting for behavioral health services from the state.

Stewart went missing at Crawford Pond, where she was paddleboarding, on July 2 and her body was found the next day. The pond is a popular summertime attraction for swimming, boating and fishing. Stewart lived about 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the pond in the Tenants Harbor neighborhood in St. George.

Stewart's friends and family celebrated her life with a maritime service last August. The memorial included a procession of boats, some decked out with flowers, in Tenants Harbor.

On the boats were pictures of Stewart smiling and a large sign that read, “Shine On.” Over the years, Stewart worked as a fisherman, boat captain, biologist, carpenter and bartender, friends have said.

FILE - Acquaintances of Sunshine Stewart sit on the bow of a lobster boat during a memorial service for the slain paddleboarder, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, off the coast of St. George, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)