Friedrich had yesterday triumphed in the two-man event with Thorsten Margis at the European Championships, held as part of the IBSF World Cup series.

The duo were joined today by Candy Bauer and Alexander Schueller.

The quartet achieved times of 54.04 and 54.09sec in the two competitions, including a new start record of 4.96 in Winterberg.

The combined time of 1min 48.13sec was enough to secure victory, with Friedrich adding to his Olympic and three World Championships with the European title.

Canada’s Justin Kripps, Ryan Sommer, Cam Stones and Benjamin Coakwell finished as the runners-up in a time of 1:48.70.

Austria’s Benjamin Maier, Sascha Stepan, Markus Sammer and Kristian Huber finished in 1:48.89 to secure the silver medal in the European Championships, as well as World Cup bronze.

Junior world champion Rostislav Gaitiukevich of Russia won European Championship bronze with Mikhail Mordasov, Ilya Malykh and Ruslan Samitov.

Defending champion Johannes Lochner was unable to continue his strong record at the European Championships, having won the event in the past four years.

The German star finished in fourth place in the European Championships in 1:49.34, alongside Florian Bauer, Christopher Weber and Christian Rasp.

The competition was the first four-man World Cup event of the season, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It leaves Friedrich top of the standings in the first of four races.

The next round of the IBSF World Cup is due to take place in St. Moritz in Switzerland next Saturday and Sunday (January 16 and 17).