The Latvian quartet, which also included Daumants Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Janis Strenga, found themselves seventh after the first two runs had finished yesterday but produced the quickest third and fourth runs at the Austrian track.

That performance, coupled with faltering displays by the teams above them, allowed Sochi 2014 silver medallist Melbardis to take full advantage.

He steered his team to a winning time of 3min 24.27sec to push Germany's overnight leader Francesco Friedrich into second spot, 0.04 seconds behind.

Friedrich, the two-man champion from Innsbruck, was unable to achieve a double success with Candy Bauer, Gregor Bermbach and Thorsten Margis as they were fourth and fifth fastest respectively to lose ground.

Nico Walther's second German crew slipped from second to fourth, with the Swiss quartet of pilot Rico Peter, Bror van der Zijde, Thomas Amrhein and Simon Friedli moving up into bronze, 0.22 behind the eventual winners.

The British team piloted by Lamin Deen, who were fourth overnight, saw their medal hopes extinguished with a third run crash which plummeted them down to 22nd position overall.

Defending champion Maximilian Arndt of Germany was also disappointed, having to settle for a seventh place finish in the last event of the Championships.

Earlier in the day, Canada's pilot Kaillie Humphries, and her pushers Cynthia Appiah, Kasha Lee, and Melissa Lotholz, won the four-woman test event.

Humphries, who made history in the World Cup this season by becoming the first woman to pilot an all-female team against the men, finished 0.76 ahead of compatriot Alysia Rissling after two heats.