WINTERBURG, Germany — Latvian brothers Martins and Tomass Dukurs have produced more strong results in the fourth round of the skeleton world championship in Germany on Friday.

Following on from his second-placing in Italy a week previous, Martins went one better this week in Germany to take first place. Martins time of 58.98 secs was enough to place him in first position following his first run, while his brother Tomass was not far behind, stopping the clock at 59.44 secs to slip into fourth position.

Although being slightly slower on their second runs (1.00.08 secs and 1.00.54 secs respectively), they both managed to hold onto their positions. Tomass would have been disappointed at missing an opportunity to step onto the podium for the first time this season but with his steady improvement one gets the feeling that a podium finish is just around the corner for the ambitious Latvian.

His fourth position now sees him match that placing in the world cup standings, now tied with Eric Bernotas of the United States on 680 points. Martins’ closest rival going into the round, Sandro Stielicke of Germany had a disappointing weekend on home soil, finishing in eighth position. The win sees him slip back to third place and Martins open a  49 point lead over his now closest rival Frank Rommel, also of Germany.