MOSCOW, February 2 (R-Sport) - Vancouver bronze medalist Alexander Tretiakov won the first-ever world championship gold for Russia in skeleton in St. Moritz on Saturday.

Tretiakov, 27, was 0.46 seconds ahead of defending champion Martins Dukurs of Latvia after three runs but lost almost all of his advantage on the final run, prevailing by only 0.03 seconds.

Dukurs took the silver after two consecutive gold finishes.

Russian Sergei Chudinov came third, 2.27 seconds behind the winner, to take his first world championship medal.

Olympic champion Jon Montgomery of Canada was seventh, trailing by 3.12 seconds.

On Friday, Britain’s Shelley Rudman grabbed the gold medal in the women’s event.