South Korean skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin ranked third midway through the world championships on Thursday in Austria, poised for the country's first medal at the worlds.

Yun had the time of 1 minute, 45.19 seconds after the first two of four runs at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Championships in Igls, Austria.

The final two runs will be held Friday.

Latvian Martins Dukurs, the defending world champion, ranked first at 1:44.64. Alexander Tretiakov of Russia, who finished second to Dukurs last year, ranked second at 1:45.17.

Yun finished eighth at last year's world championships.

Yun entered the competition ranked second in the World Cup rankings with 1365 points, thanks to one gold, two silver and two bronze medals after seven races. Dukurs is in first place with 1560 points. (Yonhap)