Friedrich had to give best to the four-man bobsleigh piloted by Pyeongchang 2018 silver medallist Nico Walther, finishing 0.07sec adrift of the winning aggregate time of 1min 48.61sec.

Home athletes swept the podium as the sled piloted by Johannes Lochner, who won gold in Friedrich's team at the last IBSF World Championships in 2017, clocked 1:48.83 to beat Latvia's Oskars Kibermanis to third place by 0.39sec.

Justin Olsen guided one US sled to 16th place, while a second, carrying an all-female crew piloted by women's world champion Elana Meyers Taylor, finished 19th and last, 3.90 behind the 18th-placed Swiss team.

Earlier in the day, Meyers Taylor reached the podium in a highly competitive women's race won by Germany’s European champion Stephanie Schneider and brake-woman Ann-Christin Strack.

Schneider's compatriots, Jamanka and brakewoman Annika Drazek, were in the lead after the first run but dropped to second overall following a mistake on their next outing.

They finished 0.07 back on the winning time of 1:53.57, with Meyers-Taylor, partnered by Lake Kwaza, just 0.01 further back in third place.

"It's a major surprise to take the win," said Schneider, who finished fourth at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

"It's a really good result after Sigulda.

"When the sled is working we know we can mix it at the front and it's great that we came out on top today."

Jamanka added: "Steffi drove a good race today.

"Unfortunately I made a few mistakes on the second run.

"It's annoying but it happens.

"We need to analyse it in detail with the coach."

Meyers Taylor, Olympic silver medallist in 2014 and world champion in 2015 and 2017, added: "That was close, but that's how it goes in Winterberg.

"The start is very important here.

"I was injured throughout the summer, so I still need to work on it.

"The plan is to be ready for the World Championships in Whistler."

Belgium's Elfje Willemsen, competing in her final race in the IBSF World Cup with her long-standing brakewoman Hanna Marien, finished 12th and last in 1:56.27 but received a rapturous reception at the finishing line from a crowd of travelling fans and athletes.

Jamanka still leads the overall World Cup standings with 435 points over Russia's Nadezhda Sergeeva, who has 394 after finishing finished fifth in Winterberg.

Germany's Anna Köhler, fourth in Winterberg, is in third place overall with 392 points.

Today's four-man event was the first of the season with the second taking place tomorrow.