Latvia’s Martins Dukurs, Germany’s Kerstin Szymkowiak win skeleton World Cup races

Dukurs, Szymkowiak win skeleton World Cup races

WINTERBERG, Germany — Martins Dukurs of Latvia won a skeleton World Cup race on Friday, while Kerstin Szymkowiak of Germany picked up her first victory of the season.

Dukurs had a combined time of 1 minute, 59.06 seconds and beat Frank Rommel of Germany by 0.75 seconds. Alexander Tretiakov of Russia was third in 1:59.87.

Eric Bernotas of the United States was seventh. He finished the first run in 59.67 seconds, followed by a second run of 1:00.89.

“We are always in a good position after the first heat, but then we drop back positions in the second run,” said U.S. skeleton driving coach and 2002 Olympic silver medalist Martin Rettl. “This is our team’s biggest problem right now.”

Szymkowiak defeated series leader Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada by half a second. She had the two fastest runs for an aggregate time of 2:04.72. Svetlana Trunova of Russia finished third.

Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States was eighth in 2:05.78.