Felix Loch clinched his sixth consecutive Luge World Cup victory after coming out on top in Sochi, the scene of his second Olympic singles triumph in 2014 ©Getty Images

Germany's Felix Loch clinched his sixth consecutive Luge World Cup victory after coming out on top in Sochi, the scene of his second Olympic singles triumph in 2014.

Loch was fastest on both runs, earning him a combined winning time of 1 min 43.967sec and his 30th race victory just a week after claiming three golds at the World Championships in Königssee.

The result marked an improvement from last season for the five-time world champion, who then had to settle for bronze in Sochi.

"I wasn’t happy finishing third last year," said Loch, who has now surpassed his gold medal haul from last year. 

"It wasn’t a bad result, but I wanted to do better this time round.

"And I did it."

The 27-year-old relegated World Championship bronze medallist Wolfgang Kindl of Austria into second, 0.432 seconds back, and Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller into third, 0.464 seconds behind.

Russia’s Semen Pavlichenko, the world and European champion in 2015, was lying fourth at the halfway point but dropped back to 19th after crashing on the finishing curve.

Defending champion Loch now holds the overall lead in the Luge World Cup with 790 points.

Kindl is close behind in second place on 685 points, while American Chris Mazdzer now lies third on 545, having finished 11th in Sochi.

Russia won the team relay at their home World Cup in Sochi
Russia won the team relay at their home World Cup in Sochi ©FIL

Meanwhile in the team relay, Russia’s Tatiana Ivanova, Semen Pavlichenko and doubles duo Andrey Bogdanov and Andrey Medvedev secured victory at their home World Cup by just five thousandths of a second with a time of 2:50.392.

World champions Germany, comprised of Natalie Geisenberger, Loch, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, were narrowly off the pace in second. 

Third place went to the Austrian team featuring Miriam Kastlunger, Kindl, Peter Penz and Georg Fischler, 1.383 seconds back. 

Germany have taken the lead in the overall standings with 331 points, while the United States, fourth in Sochi, have moved into second place with 270.

The Latvians, who had previously led the standings, did not finish the race and now lie in third spot on 255 points.

The next round of the Luge World Cup is scheduled to take place in the German town of Altenberg from February 13 to 14 and will double as the 47th International Luge Federation European Championships.