Holcomb, the 35-year-old five-time world bobsleigh champion who won Olympic four-man gold at Vancouver 2010, has been struggling for form ever since he won two and four-man bronze medals at Sochi 2014 almost two years ago.

But a superb second run allowed the duo to finish in a combined time of 1min 51.00 and overhaul Germany's Nico Walther and Christian Poser for a first win of the season.

The European pair finished second in 1:51.11, while South Korea's Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo performed brilliantly to claim the final place on the podium one hundredth of a second behind, just days after the death of their coach Malcolm “Gomer” Lloyd.

Greubel-Poser, the husband of Christian Poser, also dedicated her women's victory to Lloyd, who worked with the 32-year-old at her very first driving school at Lake Placid when she was transitioning from being a push athlete.

Lloyd competed for Britain at four Olympics before coaching teams from Great Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia.

Greubel-Poser's chances were almost over moments after the start, however, when Garrett slipped pushing their sled at the beginning of run one,  

Yet they recovered superbly to win overall with a time of 1:53.48 after their two runs, almost half a second clear of second-placed Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz in 1:53.91.

Austria's Christina Hengster and Sanne Monique Dekker were third in 1:54.30.

"It's meaningful to win this week for a lot of reasons," said Greubel-Poser afterwards.

"Gomer [Lloyd] brought everyone together from so many different nations and I really felt this was a celebration for him this week.

"For me, this win was for him.

"I had some great experiences with him in Lake Placid, so it really means a lot to me."

Action will continue tomorrow in the US resort with the four-man event, where Humphries will make history by driving an all female Canadian sled against all-male teams.