Apshkrum lay in joint second with Austrian Madeleine Egle after run one, after both came within 0.059 of German leader Jessica Tiebel.

But in the second decisive run, she clocked speeds of 114.7 kilometres per hour en route to a blistering 52.861 to rise into the lead with only her two closest rivals to go.

Egle first missed out, clocking 53.102 to eventually finish third, before Tiebel managed 52.991 to place second, agonisingly behind the Canadian's winning time of 1:46.026.

The 16-year-old from Calgary was a surprise winner over the likes of world junior champion Tiebel, who has struggled with a viral illness in recent months. 

The winner described her performance as a "dance with her sled".

“It’s not the speed I like the most but the feeling going down, it’s like dancing with your sled, it’s neat,” she said.

“You feel every movement and feel the pressure with you.

"Different tracks have different feelings.

“You don’t notice you are going fast, it seems quite slow.

"I think about 10 things during one corner, so it is timeless.”

Italians Felix Schwarz and Lukas Gufler claimed the other gold medal of the day with a more comfortable victory after leading throughout each of their two runs for a combined time of 1:44.260.

Germans Hanness Orlamuender and Paul Gubitz took silver in 1:45.114 ahead of Russian bronze medallists Vsevolod Kashkin and Konstantin Korshunov.

They clocked 1:45.272.