Dave Greszczyszyn races to career-best finish in World Cup skeleton

Canada's Dave Greszczyszyn recorded a career-best fifth-place finish in a men's World Cup skeleton race Saturday in Whistler, B.C.

The 36-year-old slider from Brampton, Ont., was fifth after the first run and finished with a combined time of one minute 45.68 seconds. Greszczyszyn's previous best came in 2013 when he was sixth in Calgary.

"I posted on Facebook this morning that I had a love-hate relationship with this track," said Greszczyszyn. "The first couple years I would be doing OK in selections and then come out here and fall back."

Latvia's Martins Dukurs won gold with a time of 1:44.31. His brother, Tomass, was second in 1:44.59, while Sungbin Yun of South Korea took bronze in 1:45.24.

"I was struggling in training," said Martins Dukurs. "I'm happy that I put together more or less solid runs."

Calgary's Barrett Martineau was eighth.

Martins Dukurs, the reigning world champion who has now won 37 of the last 43 World Cup races, set a track record on his first run with a time of 52.15 seconds to break Jon Montgomery's mark from the 2010 Olympic final by 0.05 seconds.

Dukurs settled for silver in that race and was second again at the 2014 Games in Russia.

But his track record at the Whistler Sliding Centre didn't last long as Tomass Dukurs set a new mark on his second run with a time of 52.11 seconds to help him claim silver on the 16-corner, 1,450-metre ice chute.

"I knew that was going to happen today," Greszczyszyn said of Montgomery's record falling. "[The Dukurs], they're phenomenal...if anyone was going to do it, it was them."