Martins Dukurs gets another World Cup skeleton win

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Martins Dukurs convincingly defeated his brother Tomass Dukurs to win another World Cup men’s skeleton race on Sunday, the third straight event where the Latvian siblings finished in the top two spots.

Martins Dukurs prevailed in a total time of 2 minutes, 15.54 seconds. Tomass Dukurs was timed in 2:16.63 for the silver and Canada’s John Fairbairn took the bronze in 2:17.32. Fairbairn had not finished better than sixth in any of the five previous races on the circuit this season.

Sergei Chudinov of Russia, Kristan Bromley of Britain and Matt Antoine of the U.S. rounded out the top six. Each of those sliders finished nearly two seconds behind Martins Dukurs, who grabbed his fourth World Cup win of the season.

Antoine remained fourth in the World Cup standings, behind Martins Dukurs, Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov and Tomass Dukurs.

Also for the U.S., John Daly rebounded from Friday’s 23rd-place showing by finishing ninth and earning his third top-10 finish of the season. Kyle Tress was 16th for the Americans, 11 spots off his finish on Friday.

The tour moves to Igls, Austria next weekend, where many big-name sliders — such as Germany’s Frank Rommel — will need strong finishes to qualify for their respective Olympic teams.

The U.S. team for the Sochi Games will also be unveiled next weekend.