Following on from his win last week in the first of a Latvian double-header, the six-time world champion maintained his 100 per cent record this season after a close contest with his older brother Tomass.

Just 0.19sec separated the pair after two near-identical runs from both brothers wrapped up the top two positions for Latvia.

Martins Dukurs bettered his first run by just 0.01 to set a new track record of 49.45 on his way to gold.

There was a first for Britain's Marcus Wyatt who celebrated his first podium after a strong second run had him end the competition with a bronze.

Joint sixth with silver medallist from last week, Alexander Gassner, the Briton took 0.13 out of the German to post a fast time.

His fate lied in the hands of two Russians and another German.

Olympic silver medallist Nikita Tregubov was the first to go and although he bettered his first run, he was not as crisp as the man before him, ending up in fourth at the end of the second run.

His team-mate and 2014 Olympic champion Alexander Tretiakov had a disastrous run after hitting the wall too high, momentarily falling off his sled and losing a lot of time, ultimately finishing 10th.

World champion Christopher Grotheer looked to have one hand on the bronze, but also faltered due to a mistake, falling to joint seventh with Britain's Craig Thompson.

Above Grotheer in fifth was Gassner, slightly ahead of compatriot Felix Keisinger, who he shared second with last week.

Wyatt's bronze made him the first British male skeleton athlete on the World Cup podium since Dominic Parsons in Calgary in November 2013.

Austria's Janine Flock remained undefeated in the women's skeleton, winning her second gold medal in consecutive race weekends.

With almost identical runs, Flock was a clear winner for a second race in a row, finishing 0.65sec ahead of Russia's silver medallist, Elena Nikitina.

The Sochi 2014 bronze medallist made a vast improvement on her performance from last week's competition, when she finished ninth.

Silver medallist from last week, Kimberley Bos of The Netherlands, picked up the bronze, finishing eight tenths behind Flock.

She shared her spot on the podium with Germany's world champion Tina Hermann, who posted a great second run to tie with the Dutch athlete.

Britain's Laura Deas continued to improve on her comeback, finishing fifth, marginally ahead of Belgium's Meylemans in sixth.

Hermann's team-mate and World Cup title holder Jacqueline Lölling continued to struggle at Latvia, only mustering a best of seventh.

The 2016 Youth Olympic champion Ashley Pittaway from Britain finished close behind in eighth - her best World Cup result to date.

Day two will see the two-man bobsleigh and two-woman bobsleigh events take place.