diff --git a/lib/sort.c b/lib/sort.c
index fe4efd4a1410..a0509088f82a 100644
--- a/lib/sort.c
+++ b/lib/sort.c
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ void sort_r(void *base, size_t num, size_t size,
 	/* pre-scale counters for performance */
 	size_t n = num * size, a = (num/2) * size;
 	const unsigned int lsbit = size & -size;  /* Used to find parent */
+	size_t shift = 0;
 
 	if (!a)		/* num < 2 || size == 0 */
 		return;
@@ -242,12 +243,21 @@ void sort_r(void *base, size_t num, size_t size,
 	for (;;) {
 		size_t b, c, d;
 
-		if (a)			/* Building heap: sift down --a */
-			a -= size;
-		else if (n -= size)	/* Sorting: Extract root to --n */
+		if (a)			/* Building heap: sift down a */
+			a -= size << shift;
+		else if (n > 3 * size) { /* Sorting: Extract two largest elements */
+			n -= size;
 			do_swap(base, base + n, size, swap_func, priv);
-		else			/* Sort complete */
+			shift = do_cmp(base + size, base + 2 * size, cmp_func, priv) <= 0;
+			a = size << shift;
+			n -= size;
+			do_swap(base + a, base + n, size, swap_func, priv);
+		} else if (n > size) {	/* Sorting: Extract root */
+			n -= size;
+			do_swap(base, base + n, size, swap_func, priv);
+		} else	{		/* Sort complete */
 			break;
+		}
 
 		/*
 		 * Sift element at "a" down into heap.  This is the