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Latvia's Martins Dukurs captured the first men's World Cup skeleton race of the season, negotiating the twists of Utah's short Park City Olympic ice chutes in a combined time of 1 minute 39.75 seconds.

Dukurs, who had the fastest time on both runs, won by more than a half-second margin over Germany's youngest slider, Sandro Stiekicke at 1:40.27. Third was Britain's Kristan Bromley at 1:40.37.

Canadians Jeff Pain, of Calgary, Alta., and Jon Montgomery of Russell, Man., both finished in the top-10. Pain tied American Eric Bernotas for sixth while Montgomery tied Germany's Michi Halilovic for ninth.

Mike Douglas of Toronto, Ont., was Canada's third competitor in the race. He finished 15th of 29 competitors.

After posting the fourth-fastest first run in the competition, Dukurs' older brother, Tomass, fell from the top 10 after a disastrous second heat. The hood on the Latvian competitor's speed suit came loose, catching air behind him. The error cost Tomass more than a second of time down the track, and he fell to 12th as a result.

After the race, Martins aluded to the gains he and his brother appear to have made since finishing last season ranked sixth and 23rd, respectively.

"I think we did a good job," Martins said, "Everything (is) stitched together mentally, physically. Everything (is) stitched together and it looks like we're going up."

The women's skeleton competition is scheduled for later Thursday. Bobsleigh's season opener begins Friday with the two-man and women's competitions.

- With files from CTVOlympics.ca