diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogWriter.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogWriter.java
index e215669761c..84278fa92b3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogWriter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/translog/TranslogWriter.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import java.nio.file.OpenOption;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;
 
 public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
 
@@ -60,7 +61,8 @@ public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
     private volatile long totalOffset;
 
     protected final AtomicBoolean closed = new AtomicBoolean(false);
-
+    // lock order synchronized(syncLock) -> synchronized(this)
+    private final Object syncLock = new Object();
 
     public TranslogWriter(ShardId shardId, long generation, FileChannel channel, Path path, ByteSizeValue bufferSize) throws IOException {
         super(generation, channel, path, channel.position());
@@ -146,23 +148,7 @@ public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
      * raising the exception.
      */
     public void sync() throws IOException {
-        if (syncNeeded()) {
-            synchronized (this) {
-                ensureOpen();
-                final long offsetToSync;
-                final int opsCounter;
-                try {
-                    outputStream.flush();
-                    offsetToSync = totalOffset;
-                    opsCounter = operationCounter;
-                    checkpoint(offsetToSync, opsCounter, generation, channel, path);
-                } catch (Throwable ex) {
-                    closeWithTragicEvent(ex);
-                    throw ex;
-                }
-                lastSyncedOffset = offsetToSync;
-            }
-        }
+        syncUpTo(Long.MAX_VALUE);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -229,9 +215,38 @@ public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
      * @return <code>true</code> if this call caused an actual sync operation
      */
     public boolean syncUpTo(long offset) throws IOException {
-        if (lastSyncedOffset < offset) {
-            sync();
-            return true;
+        if (lastSyncedOffset < offset && syncNeeded()) {
+            synchronized (syncLock) { // only one sync/checkpoint should happen concurrently but we wait
+                if (lastSyncedOffset < offset && syncNeeded()) {
+                    // double checked locking - we don't want to fsync unless we have to and now that we have
+                    // the lock we should check again since if this code is busy we might have fsynced enough already
+                    final long offsetToSync;
+                    final int opsCounter;
+                    synchronized (this) {
+                        ensureOpen();
+                        try {
+                            outputStream.flush();
+                            offsetToSync = totalOffset;
+                            opsCounter = operationCounter;
+                        } catch (Throwable ex) {
+                            closeWithTragicEvent(ex);
+                            throw ex;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    // now do the actual fsync outside of the synchronized block such that
+                    // we can continue writing to the buffer etc.
+                    try {
+                        channel.force(false);
+                        writeCheckpoint(offsetToSync, opsCounter, path.getParent(), generation, StandardOpenOption.WRITE);
+                    } catch (Throwable ex) {
+                        closeWithTragicEvent(ex);
+                        throw ex;
+                    }
+                    assert lastSyncedOffset <= offsetToSync : "illegal state: " + lastSyncedOffset + " <= " + offsetToSync;
+                    lastSyncedOffset = offsetToSync; // write protected by syncLock
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
         }
         return false;
     }
@@ -254,11 +269,6 @@ public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
         Channels.readFromFileChannelWithEofException(channel, position, targetBuffer);
     }
 
-    private synchronized void checkpoint(long lastSyncPosition, int operationCounter, long generation, FileChannel translogFileChannel, Path translogFilePath) throws IOException {
-        translogFileChannel.force(false);
-        writeCheckpoint(lastSyncPosition, operationCounter, translogFilePath.getParent(), generation, StandardOpenOption.WRITE);
-    }
-
     private static void writeCheckpoint(long syncPosition, int numOperations, Path translogFile, long generation, OpenOption... options) throws IOException {
         final Path checkpointFile = translogFile.resolve(Translog.CHECKPOINT_FILE_NAME);
         Checkpoint checkpoint = new Checkpoint(syncPosition, numOperations, generation);
@@ -269,7 +279,7 @@ public class TranslogWriter extends BaseTranslogReader implements Closeable {
 
         static final ChannelFactory DEFAULT = new ChannelFactory();
 
-        // only for testing until we have a disk-full FileSystemt
+        // only for testing until we have a disk-full FileSystem
         public FileChannel open(Path file) throws IOException {
             return FileChannel.open(file, StandardOpenOption.WRITE, StandardOpenOption.READ, StandardOpenOption.CREATE_NEW);
         }