The event will be the highlight of a new season due to begin later this year with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup on another Olympic track at Whistler in Canada between November 28 and December 3. 

Sochi were awarded the World Championships at the IBSF Congress in Gdynia in Poland in 2013 when, among the cities they beat, was Whistler.

The other candidates were Altenberg in Germany and Lake Placid in the United States. 

The track at Sliding Center Sanki, which cost cost RUB 135.7 million (£1.5 million/$2.1 million/€1.9 million) to build, is 1,365 metres in length and features 20 curves.

The IBSF Para-Sport World Championships, meanwhile, is due to take place in St. Moritz in Switzerland between January 30 and February 5.

The Championships was held for the first time in Park City earlier this year and IBSF officials hope that the event will be included as part of the programme for the 2022 Winter Paralymics in Beijing. 

After the opening World Cup event in Whistler, the next stop will be Lake Placid between December 12 and 17.

The World Cup circuit will resume in the New Year with an two events in in Germany at Altenberg on January 2 to 8 and Winterberg from January 9 to 15.

St Moritz will be the next stop between January 16 and 22 before the World Cup returns to Germany at Königssee from January 23 until 29.

Following the World Championships in Sochi, there will be two weeks of training on the new ice track at Alpensia Sliding Center, built for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The dress rehearsal for the Olympic races is then for scheduled for March 13 until 19, bringing the curtain down on the 2016-2017 World Cup season.