The 31-year-old Latvian, the defending champion and three-time winner, clocked runs of 52.14 sec and 52.50 to open up a 0.53 seconds lead over Russia's Olympic gold medallist Alexander Tretyakov.

It means that the World Cup leader is extremely well placed to claim glory after the final two runs due on the Austrian track tomorrow, with South Korea's Sungbin Yun currently sitting third, 0.55 off the pace.

“I’m really happy with my first run," said Dukurs, a two-time Olympic silver medallist and winner of the World Cup for the last six years.

"I made a couple of errors in the second run, so I need to right those tomorrow.”

The 30-year-old Tretyakov won the world title in 2013 but the Sochi 2014 Olympic champion has played second fiddle to Dukurs this season and has not won a World Cup race.

"My motivation and my mood are excellent after the silver medal in the team competition," he said.

"There were a couple of small errors in the runs, but I know what I need to do.”

Yun is hopeful of a medal in Innsbruck after becoming the only man to win a World Cup race this term apart from Dukurs.

The Korean, building towards a home Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in 2018, was victorious at St Moritz in Switzerland on February 5.

“My first run was better," he said.

"I definitely want to start well again tomorrow, and then go for the attack.”

The final runs at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Championships are scheduled to take place at 3.30pm and 5.15pm local time.