The defending champion and five-time overall winner claimed his third victory from as many races with a time of 1min 57.25sec, finishing 1.10 ahead of his brother Tomass in second and 1.22 clear of Russia's Alexander Tretiakov in third.

Dukurs, a two-time Olympic silver medallist, won the first two rounds in Lake Placid, the United States and Calgary, Canada, with his sibling coming second on both occasions.

The pair are separated by 45 points in the overall World Cup standings, on 675 and 630 respectively, with Germany's Axel Jungk, who finished fourth in Altenberg, in third on 568 points.

Latvia's Tomass Dukurs has finished second behind his brother Martins in each of this season's three World Cup events ©Getty Images



Nikita Tregybov, a World Cup debutant from Russia, finished fifth, while Germany's Kilian von Schleinitz recorded the fastest second run to take ninth place and register his first top-10 World Cup finish.

Meanwhile in the men's bobsleigh, Switzerland's Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann clocked a combined time of 1:53.17, narrowly beating Latvia's Oskars Melbardis and Daumants Dreiskens by 0.08 and Germany's Nico Walther and Joshua Bluhm by 0.24. 

Despite only managing the eighth quickest time in the second run, it proved to be enough for the Swiss pair after they'd set the fastest first run time of 56.04.

Melbardis and Dreiskens top the overall standings on 645 points, ahead of Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis on 619 points, and Hefti and Baumann on 617 points. 

The four-man's bobsleigh is due to be held tomorrow.  

The next World Cup event is scheduled to take place in Königssee, Germany from January 12 to 18.

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February 2013: Dukurs and Thees finish top of FIBT world rankings