Steu and Koller’s home knowledge of the Olympic Sliding Centre in the opening event of the season helped them to victory as they posted the fastest times in both runs in the men’s doubles event.

Their combined time off 1min 19.476sec put them ahead of Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken in second place

The Germans completed the course in 1:19.656 for the silver medal as Russia’s Vladislav Yuzhakov and Iurii Prokhorov claimed the bronze medal.

The Russians’ top speed of 109.82 kilometres per hour was marginally less than what the top two managed, making their combined time of 1:19.758 only enough for third place.

In the women’s singles event, Germany took all three podium spots after a dominant display.

Consistency from Olympic champion Natalie Geisenberger took her to the gold medal as she finished second fastest in both her runs to top the table in combined times.

Geisenberger’s total time of 1:19.619 marginally edged team-mate Julia Taubitz in the silver medal position.

Taubitz was fastest after the first run but only managed the third fastest second run to but her second overall and 0.036 seconds behind Geisenberger.

Bronze went to Tatjana Huefner who finished in 1:19.885.

Fellow German Dajana Eitberger was the fastest in run two but her 20th place finish in the first attempt put her eighth overall with a total time of 1:20.058.