The 27-year-old claimed the overall World Cup crown last term and also boasts seven World Championship gold medals, but has not begun the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic campaign in the best of form.

He finished ninth twice at the season-opener in Lake Placid in the United States and was then 13th in Whistler in Canada.

This has left Friedrich 10th in the overall standings and he is looking for better things at the first European leg of the season on his home track.

He won his World Cup title using an "on loan" sled from manufacturers Wallner which has now been sold to Austria.

A new sled from the same company will now be utilised in Winterberg, where Friedrich will be pushed by Martin Grothkopp.

In all, a record number of 26 countries will compete at the Winterberg World Cup on a track celebrating its 40th birthday this year.

Thirty-three two-man teams will compete in bobsleigh alongside 30 four-man outfits and 23 women's bobsleigh duos.

Skeleton events will see 34 men and 29 women take to the ice.

In the two-man, Canada currently occupy the top two positions in the World Cup standings.

Justin Kripps, pushed by Alexander Kopacz, currently sits first on 612 points after two second-place finishes and a fourth this term.

Whistler champion Chris Spring, pushed by Neville Wright, currently sits second on 577.

Germany's Nico Walther currently leads the German charge after winning the opening Lake Placid event, and has 545 points in third.

Walther also sits second in the four-man standings with 577 points, behind his team-mate Johannes Lochner who leads the way on 601.

In women's bobsleigh, Canada's Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz will look for a third win of the season to cement their place at the top of the standings. 

South Korea's Yun Sungbin, a big medal hope for his home Olympics in Pyeongchang, will look to continue his strong start to the men's skeleton season which sees him top the pile with two victories.

Germany's Jacqueline Lölling, the winner in Whistler, is the slider to catch in the women's event.

The World Cup will begin with both skeleton events tomorrow.

However, a cloud may hang over proceedings with the Russian doping crisis embroiling the sport. 

Legal action could be taken by the IBSF after its own hearing panel cleared nine Russians sanctioned by the Oswald Commission.

The bobsleigh and skeleton athletes were originally suspended by the IBSF after they were found guilty by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Disciplinary Commission and banned from the Olympic Games for life.

But an IBSF Hearing Panel, which operates independently of the world governing body, lifted the suspensions last Friday (December 1) after it ruled there was "not sufficient evidence" to keep them in place.

The athletes, including double Sochi 2014 gold medallist Alexander Zubkov and men's Olympic skeleton champion Alexander Tretiakov, have been stripped of their medals and results and banned from competing at the Olympic Games for life by the IOC Disciplinary Commission chaired by Executive Board member Denis Oswald. 

Tretiakov and Elena Nikitina, Olympic bronze medallist in women's skeleton at Sochi 2014, were banned from competing at the IBSF World Cup in Whistler last month after they were sanctioned by the Commission.

Alexander Kasjanov, Aleksei Pushkarev and Ilvir Khuzin, who had been in line to be upgraded to bronze from their home Olympics following the disqualification of the victorious four-man team, won the four-man event in Whistler along with Vasiliy Kondratenko despite being under investigation by the Oswald Commission.