Alexander Denisyev and Vladislav Antonov slid to victory in the doubles event before joining forces with Tatiana Ivanova and Semen Pavlichenko to finish first in the team relay as well.

The World Cup has been overshadowed, however, by high-profile withdrawals including the entire Austrian and American teams and Germany's triple Olympic champion Felix Loch.

It followed complaints from athletes that ice build-up on certain track curves had significantly increased the chance of crashing.

Three weeks ago, the Junior World Cup tour was stopped in Winterberg because of safety issues. 

Denisyev and Antonov, the sprint world champions, claimed their second victory of the season but the absence of the two leading German teams, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken and Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, made their job much easier.

They ended in a time of 1min 33.622sec after their two runs.

Latvia's Oskars Gudramovics and Peteris Kalnins earned their first podium finish of the season by finishing second, clocking 1:34.230.

There was also a historic first World Cup podium for Poland as Wojclech Jerzy Chmielewski and Jakub Kowalewski won bronze in 1:34.385.

"The win was pretty easy because the top teams weren't competing today," said Denisev.

"We are looking forward to the challenge with the other duos."

There is no change at the top of the standings as world champions Eggert and Benecken still lead the way with 772 points as they defend their overall World Cup crown.

Back-to-back Olympic champions Wendl and Arlt are 10 points behind and are the only other duo who could finish top with one leg of the season left.

In the team relay, Russia clocked 2:36.848 for gold.

Italy ended in 2:37.342 for silver and bronze went to Latvia in 2:37.447.

The Italians now lead the overall standings on 395 points, with Russia second on 361 and Latvia third on 320.

After not entering, defending champions Germany are now fourth on 315.

The World Cup season will conclude in Königssee in Germany on February 29 and March 1.