Germany also dominated the later two-woman event, with gold going to Kim Kalicki and Ann-Christin Strack, and silver to Stephanie Schneider and Tamara Seer.

In the third of four scheduled races in the large sled during the 2020-2021 season, Friedrich - accompanied by Thorsten Margis, Martin Grothkopp and Alexander Schueller - set the two best times at the start and in the track, finishing 0.39sec ahead of the second-placed Austrian team steered by Benjamin Maier.

Third place went to the team guided by Friedrich’s compatriot Johannes Lochner, the 2017 world champion, who thus achieved his first podium finish of the season in the discipline.

Yesterday Friedrich, who earned gold in the two-man and four-man events at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, closed in on winning his fourth overall World Cup two-man bobsleigh title after achieving a sixth straight victory.

Germany’s Christoph Hafer - with Kevin Korona, Christian Hammers and Philipp Wobeto - placed second in the first run but missed the podium by 0.03sec.

Britain’s Brad Hall finished seventh in his first four-man bobsleigh start of the season with Taylor Lawrence, Bruce Tasker and Greg Cackett.

With one four-man race remaining, Friedrich leads the overall World Cup standings on 675 points ahead of Maier, who has 620, and Canada’s Justin Cripps, on 594.

Kalicki and Strack totalled 1min 41.71sec to earn victory in the women’s racing, with Schneider and Seer on 1:41.96.

Bronze went to the American pairing of Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman with a combined time from their two runs of 1:42.17.

Today was Meyers Taylor’s third race back since the 2018-2019 season.

The 36-year-old, won has won a bronze and two silvers at this event over the last three Winter Olympics, was on maternity leave last season, and is traveling this season with her husband and son.

Kaillie Humphries and Lauren Gibbs of the United States, who won here last season, finished sixth on 1:42.30.

Humphries, who has won two golds and a bronze in this event representing Canada at the Winter Olympics, threw her hands up after watching the replay at the finish, visibly disappointed with the result.

She had limited runs in the sled she raced in today, which is a new production from the same manufacturer that builds the monobob sleds.

Humphries has won both Women's Monobob World Series races she has raced in this season.