Germany's multi world champion Tina Hermann is still on course for the IBSF World Cup after her dominant performance in Altenberg ©IBSF

Germany's seven-time world champion Tina Hermann won her second International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup race of the season in Altenberg to extend her lead at the top of the overall standings.

Hermann opened the skeleton with a run of 58.05sec to give her the advantage.

On the second run, she was slightly slower with 58.18, but it was still faster than any of her rivals.

Her combined time of 1min 56.23sec gave her a margin of 1.04 seconds over team mate, 2022 world junior champion Susanne Kreher who finished with 1:57.27.

Defending World Cup champion Kimberley Bos of the Netherlands had to work hard on the second run after she started in sixth position but her time of 58.37 second time round was enough to elevate her to third.

She finished with a combined time of 1:57.45.

After five races of the women's IBSF World Cup season, Hermann heads the overall standings with 1,028 points ahead of Bos on 961 and Canada's Mirela Rahneva with 955.

Rahneva was fourth in Altenberg.

Britain’s Matt Weston recorded his second IBSF Skeleton World Cup victory of the season to take the men’s race after a remarkable second run.

He had been lying only fifth after the opening run with a time of 56.19 but stormed through on the second to give him a combined  time 1:52.44 which overhauled Germany's lympic champion Christopher Grotheer by 0.14 seconds.

A third gold medal of Weston’s career makes it eight World Cup medals already this season for British Skeleton, with the 25-year-old having already won in Lake Placid in November and team-mate Marcus Wyatt taking the opening race of the season in Whistler in November. 

Weston's World Championship hopes at the same venue were ended by a crash at the same venue two years ago, leaving him in 23rd place.

"This win means a lot to me." he said.

"It’s such a heavily German dominated track so I’m really pleased to have come here and righted some wrongs from my previous times in Altenberg.

"To beat Grotheer here when he’s sliding some of the best lines I’ve seen all year is a great feeling.

"And there’s still a lot of room for improvement in my runs as well, so that gives me confidence going into next week that we can hopefully do the same again. It shows that the changes we’ve made this year are really, really making a difference."

Matt Weston produced a superb second run to beat Germany's Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer, meaning British competitors have won three of the first five races this season ©IBSF
Matt Weston produced a superb second run to beat Germany's Olympic champion Christopher Grotheer, meaning British competitors have won three of the first five races this season ©IBSF

Grotheer’s combined time was 1:52.58 was enough for him to beat compatriot and Olympic silver medallist Axel Jungk, who finished with a time of 1:52.94.

Grotheer remains the overall men’s World Cup leader with 1,054 points, ahead of Wyattwith 985. 

Jungk with 954 points closed the gap on Wyatt, who only placed sixth on the day.