The opening day of the seventh stop on the World Cup circuit saw the focus on the skeleton competitions, with bobsleigh action beginning tomorrow.

Latvia’s Dukurs ended the first run of the men’s competition 0.02 seconds off the lead, with Olympic champion Yun Sung-bin leading in a time of 1min 7.71sec.

The South Korean faltered on the second run as he could only post the ninth-fastest time down the St Moritz-Celerina Olympia Bobrun track.

Dukurs took full advantage with the six-times world champion clocking 1:08.16, the quickest second-run time.

His overall time of 2:15.89 proved enough for a second World Cup win of the season, following success at Igls in Austria.

Germany’s Felix Keisinger finished 0.31 seconds off the pace to end as the runner-up, with compatriot Axel Jungk a further 0.03 down in third place.

Yun missed out on the podium by just 0.02 seconds as the South Korean ended the competition with a time of 2:16.25.

Victory saw Dukurs take the lead in the overall World Cup standings by moving onto 1,440 points, while Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov drops to second on 1,419.

Germany’s Hermann secured back-to-back wins in the women’s World Cup season to move to second in the season standings.

She followed up victory in Königssee by posting the fastest times in both runs of the competition in St Moritz.

Hermann triumphed in a time of 2:19.87, topping the World Cup podium for the third time in the season.

World Cup leader Jacqueline Lölling finished behind her compatriot in 2:20.28, while Austria’s Janine Flock rounded off the podium places in 2:20.60.

Loelling appears set to claim the World Cup title as she heads into the final event with a total of 1,472 points.

Hermann climbed to second place on 1,419, with Flock just five points behind.

 The two-man and two-woman bobsleigh events will be contested tomorrow, before the four-man event rounds off competition in St Moritz on Sunday (January 2).