The competition took on extra significant with monobob having been included on the Olympic programme for the first time at Beijing 2022. 

Popescu marked herself out as an athlete to watch in the build-up to the Games, producing a dominant performance on the natural ice track.

She topped the standings after the opening run of the competition, which saw her achieve a time of 1min 13.40sec.

Her second run was 0.04 seconds faster, with Popescu crowned champion in an overall time of 2:26.84.

"Ahead of the race, I was confident and assured that I could win," Popescu said.

"Even before the second heat, I just concentrated on the race."

Slovakia’s Viktória Čerňanská came into the competition as the favourite for the gold medal after winning the 2019-2020 International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation Youth Series.

Čerňanská placed third in the opening run before rising to the silver medal position in the second.

She finished with an overall time of 2:27.35, edging Germany’s Celine Harms by 0.01 seconds.

The women's skeleton competition saw the top two athletes separated by just 0.03 seconds.

Germany's Josefa Schellmoser earned a narrow advantage in the first run of the competition by clocking 1:11.04.

Tsyganova was 0.05 seconds adrift of the leader at the midway point of the event, but the Russian took the lead when it mattered most.

She achieved a time of 1:11.41 in her second run to finish with a winning total of 2:22.50.

Schellmoser finished an agonising 0.03 seconds down to end as the runner-up.

Her team-mate Sissi Schroedl of Germany was the recipient of the bronze medal, finishing in 2:22.95.