The Austrian is seeking to build on claiming a maiden world title last year, which he earned in the sprint discipline.

Müller produced a superb first run time of 50.539sec to top the standings.

Russia’s Aleksandr Gorbatcevich and Germany’s multiple Olympic and world champion Felix Loch completed the top three at the halfway stage.

The duo were unable to match their first runs with Loch dropping to sixth place, while a disastrous second run saw Gorbatcevich finish in last place.

Müller avoided a similar fate as he recorded the fourth fastest second run time of 50.476, giving him a winning time of 1min 41.015sec.

Russia’s Roman Repilov went fastest in the second run to finish as the runner-up on 1:41.162, with Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller third in 1:41.207.

Fischnaller topped the podium later in the day as part of Italy’s victorious mixed team relay squad, alongside Andrea Voetter, Ivan Nagler and Fabian Malleier.

The Italian team finished in a winning time of 2:09.638.

Müller, Lisa Schulte, Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller finished in second place.

The Austrians finished just 0.025 seconds behind.

Germany’s Julia Taubitz, Loch, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken were in third place in 2:09.866.