Friedrich was victorious in yesterday's World Cup opener at Sigulda's bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track alongside brakeman Alexander Schüller.

Today Friedrich competed with Martin Grothkopp, achieving his second successive two-man bobsleigh victory after the duo recorded a winning time of 1min 40.25sec.

Latvia's Oskars Kibermanis and Mikniss Matiss, yesterday's runners-up, again finished second in today's event with a time of 1:40.31.

Another German pair, Christoph Hafer and Tobias Schneider, came third in 1:40.50. 

Friedrich's two victories puts him firmly on top of the World Cup rankings with 450 points, followed by Kibermanis with 420 and Hafer on 368.

Russia's Elena Nikitina continued her country's success in the skeleton following the victory in the men's event yesterday of Nikita Tregubov, winning the women's race with an overall time of 1:45.12 and setting a track record on her first run of 52.51sec. 

The European champion beat Canada's Elisabeth Maier in a time of 1:45.42 and Germany's Tina Hermann on 1:45.60. 

Nikitina controversially missed this year's Winter Olympic Games having originally been accused of doping and stripped of the bronze medal she won at Sochi 2014.

She was among 22 Russian athletes who appealed successfully to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and had her medal returned.

Yet, the 26-year-old from Moscow was still denied the opportunity to compete at Pyeongchang 2018 because, as the Russian Olympic Committee were banned, she needed an invitation from the International Olympic Committee which they refused to issue. 

Nikitina's success in the World Cup opener means she leads the rankings with 225 points, while Maier has 210 points and Hermann 200. 

The next IBSF event is due to take place in the German resort of Winterberg on Friday and Saturday (December 14 and 15).