CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Matt Weston took the lead after the opening two runs of the men's skeleton competition at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games here on Thursday, as the track record was broken four times.

Weston, the reigning world champion and overall World Cup winner, set the early pace with a time of 56.21 seconds in the first run. Defending champion Christopher Grotheer and his fellow German Axel Jungk later lowered the mark in the second run.

Starting last, Weston responded with a record-breaking 55.88 seconds, becoming the first athlete to go under 56 seconds on the track. He now heads into Friday's final two runs with a 0.30-second advantage over Jungk, while Grotheer sits in third place.

"The first run is always the hardest mentally - just to get down the track and settle into the race. In run two, I improved," Weston said. "It's a very technical and challenging track, which I'm really enjoying."

China's Chen Wenhao and Italy's Amedeo Bagnis rank fourth and fifth respectively.

The women's skeleton competition is scheduled for Friday afternoon, followed by the third and fourth runs of the men's event.