The event, taking place at the Whistler Sliding Centre, will begin only two days after the International Olympic Committee announced the retrospective disqualifications of leading Russian sliders from Sochi 2014 as part of their investigation into doping and sample tampering at the Games.

Those sanctioned include Nikitina, the women's skeleton Olympic bronze medallist and current World Cup leader after winning the last round in Park City, and male counterpart Aleksandr Tretiakov, the reigning Olympic champion, who finished third in the season opener in Lake Placid.

They are also barred from all future Olympic Games but are expected to appeal the verdicts at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both had been expected to compete in Whistler until the IBSF announced tonight they had suspended them. 

Mariia Orlova and Olga Potylitsyna, the two other Russian sliders sanctioned by the IOC, have also been suspended by the IBSF. 

"In light of the decisions of the IOC´s Oswald Commission to disqualify four skeleton athletes from the Sochi Olympic Winter Games 2014 the IBSF has decided to impose provisional suspensions on the athletes with immediate effect," they said in a brief statement on their website. 

"The athletes have the right to a Provisional Hearing on the matter of the Provisional Suspension."

The suspensions increase Canada's hopes of repeat success of the home success they enjoyed in the event last year. 

Home hope Elisabeth Vathje lies second in the women's skeleton standings so the absence of Nikitina leaves her in pole position. 

Britain's Laura Deas and Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold and Germany's Jacqueline Loelling, the other leading challengers, should also benefit. 

South Korea's Yun Sung-bin and Latvia's Martins Dukurs, meanwhile, are set to take advantage of Tretiakov's suspension in the men's event on Saturday (November 25) after a win apiece so far this season.

The women's bobsleigh and men's two-person event will also take place tomorrow before the four-man competition is held on Saturday.

More than 200 athletes representing 25 countries are due to compete in another key staging post towards next year's Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. 

Kaillie Humphries and Cynthia Appiah won a home gold in the women's bobsleigh last year.

American teams led by Jamie Greubel-Poser and Elana Meyers-Taylor should be among their closest challengers.