The competition at the Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck, which begins tomorrow, is the final World Cup event before athletes begin their pursuit of world titles in Königssee.

The World Championships, which are scheduled to run from February 13 to 26, were initially due to be held in Sochi before the IBSF stripped the Russian city of the event as a result of the country’s doping scandal.

The Igls leg of the World Cup will give athletes the chance to earn bragging rights over the rest of the field with less than two weeks before the event in Königssee gets underway.

In the women’s skeleton, Janine Flock will be hoping to use home advantage to usurp European champion Jacqueline Lölling of Germany at the summit of the overall standings.

Flock currently has 1,121 points, with Lölling leading the way on 1,214.

The men’s skeleton leaderboard is similarly tight as a single point separates South Korea’s Yun Sung-Bin in first from double Olympic silver medallist Martins Dukurs of Latvia, the four-time world champion and World Cup holder, in second.

Yun occupies top spot with 1,213, with Dukurs hot on the South Korean’s heels.

Francesco Friedrich of Germany, a five-time world champion, is the man to beat in the men’s two-man bobsleigh as he has a total of 1,095 points, 20 more than nearest challenger Steven Holcomb of the United States.

The women’s bobsleigh leaderboard has a distinctly North American feel, with Canada’s double Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries currently in first place on 1,236 points.

Jamie Greubel Poser of the United States is second, with Austria’s Christina Hengster third, narrowly in front of American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor.

The men’s and women’s skeleton are scheduled for tomorrow, with women’s bobsleigh and two-man bobsleigh races on Saturday (February 4).

The event concludes the following day with action in the four-man bobsleigh competition.

Igls staged last year's World Championships.