In the sum of two races, M. Dukurs overtook his closest follower from Great Britain, Metu Weston, by 0.20 seconds, but the German Christopher Grother lost 0.33 seconds. M.Dukurs was the fourth fastest in the second race.
Dukurs won his 58th World Cup victory in Austria on Friday, but he has never been beaten this season.
His older brother Thomas lost 0.81 seconds, reaching eighth in the race, while he was tenth in the start.
In the first race M.Dukurs was third in the start, but in the finish he was 0.02 seconds ahead of Danilius Romanov from Russia, who made several serious mistakes in the second race, therefore he settled for the fifth place.
T.Dukurs showed the ninth best result in the first race, but the track was “clean” and ranked eighth, losing 0.34 seconds to his brother.
Leading Russian skeletonists Alexander Tretyakov and Nikita Tregubov did not participate in this stage.
The World Cup season started with two stages in Sigulda, where M. Dukurs was unbeaten on both occasions, while Thomas Dukurs won the fourth and second place, respectively.
Last weekend, for the first time, the race took place on the Igls track, and M. Dukurs and Russian Alexander Tretyakov won the first place, with Thomas finishing tenth in the 19-race race.
Martins Igls track has not been beaten since 2010.
Last week, M. Dukurs won his 57th World Cup victory. The Innsbruck track has been particularly successful for athletes, winning a total of 14 gold medals, 11 of which were in the World Cup stages, two more in the European Championships and one in the World Championships.
Meanwhile, T.Dukurs has entered the podium three times in Innsbruck, all in the World Cup. He won a bronze medal in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Last year, at the European Championships, Thomas settled for the “wooden medal” or fourth position on the Austrian track.
This season, the fiercest competition for M. Dukurs without his brother in Sigulda was shown by the German Aleksandrs Gasners, who was in the first stage in the split second place, but a week later finished the fifth. In the first stage, his compatriot Felix Keizerer shared the second place with the German.
In the third stage of the Egles track, the third was the Russian Nikita Tregubov, the fourth – the British Matt Weston, followed by two Germans – Gasner and Christopher Grother.
Last season, one of the world’s leading skeletonists, South Korean Sunbin Jun, finished behind M. Dukura in Innsbruck, but has not yet gone on the track this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The third place was won by the Russian athlete Tretyakov, but T.Dukurs took the 12th place.
Last season, Martin Dukur proved his dominance on the world skeleton stage, winning two of the three biggest titles. He won the World Cup for the ninth time in his career and became the eleventh time European champion. He had to settle for fourth place in the World Championships.
Meanwhile, Thomas Dukurs was sixth in the overall World Cup standings. The only time he climbed the podium was in Sigulda, where he gave in to his brother and became European vice-champion. Thomas Dukurs was seventh in the World Cup.
The leader of the World Cup overall with a maximum possible 900 points is M. Dukurs, the closest follower is German Alexander Gasner, who has accumulated 746 points, but the third position with 714 points is occupied by the British Weston. The German, Felix Keizinger, who is in the fourth place, has the same number of points, but T. Dukurs follows with 706 points.
In the steel women’s competition, she was ranked 15th, with Janine Floka, the winner of the two races, losing 1.49 seconds.
In the first race, she went to the track with the 11th number and allowed several inaccuracies in the race, she took the 16th place in the competition of 19 riders, the winning housewife Floka lost 0.89 seconds.
The second surprising was Italian Valentina Margaljo, who got a lot of success from the fastest start of all participants. She lost 0.05 seconds to Flock, the third after the first race was Dutchman Kimberley Boss, 0.12 seconds behind Flock.
Steel made the second trip much better, but only the Russian Alona Frolov was able to overtake.
Floka won, which was also the best in the second race. She was 0.21 seconds ahead of Boss and 0.22 seconds ahead of German Jacqueline Lelling. The author of the surprise of the first race Margaljo pushed the skeleton even faster in the second race, but he made too many mistakes on the track without bearing the burden of responsibility, and in the sum of two races he finished only in the sixth place 0.44 seconds behind the winner. In any case, however, this is the best career achievement for an Italian woman.
Floka is in the lead after three stages with 875 points in the overall World Cup standings. The boss has 830 points, but the third place with 760 points is taken by the German Tīna Hermane, while Steel with 576 points ranks ninth among 24 athletes.
In the first stage of the season, Sigulda Steel used the advantages of the home track, as well as bad weather conditions, and for the first time won a medal in the highest quality competition for the Latvian women’s skeleton, winning bronze. In the second stage, she ranked 11th in Sigulda.
In the first two stages of this season, the Austrian Janīne Floka remained unbeaten, but the second and third place was won by the Dutchman Kimberlija Bosa.
World Cup winner Jacqueline Leling (Germany), world champion Tina Herman (Germany) and European champion Jelena Nikitina (Russia) also started in Sigulda.
Also in the first stage, on the Īglsa track a week ago, Steel ranked 11th. Nikitina won, Bosa was second, and Floka shared the third place with Herman.
Steel was the leading domestic skeletonist last season, and she has a preference to use the only Latvian quota, but it is not excluded that Dārta Zunte will start in one of the next stages of the World Cup. Steel won two European Cup stages in the 2019/2020 season and won sixth place in the World Junior Championship.
There will also be two bobsleigh competitions for two in the World Cup in Innsbruck over the weekend.
Since 2006, the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Skeletons (IBSF) has been organizing the World Cup stages together, dividing five sets of medals in one stage – in the skeleton for ladies and gentlemen, in bobsleigh for men in doubles and fours, and for bobsleighers in doubles.
The next stage of the World Cup will also take place in Innsbruck, but after the new year one stage is planned in Winterberg. The stages will continue in St. Moritz and Königssee, but the end of the season is planned for mid-March on the Yanchin track, where the 2022 Beijing Olympics will take place. However, the progress of this stage is still under question.
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