The European champion led the way with a 1min 6.298sec first run, and followed it with a 1:07.298 on the second to narrowly edge out compatriot Felix Loch.

Langenhan acknowledged a mistake on his second run, but was pleased to hold on to first place.

"I panicked a bit during the second run because I made a big mistake," he said.

"When I saw Felix at the finish, I was pretty sure it wasn't enough.

"However, as heartily as he was pleased, it shows again how much we appreciate each other's success.

"It would have been cool if we had finished at the same time.

"I'm happy to be on top at all with that mistake."

Two-time Olympic champion Loch was just 0.011sec off the pace.

He was fourth at the halfway stage with 1:06.566, and could not quite overtake Langenhan despite a superb 1:07.041 on the second run.

Kristers Aparjods of Latvia finished third in 2:13.915, climbing from 11^th with 1:06.860 on to the podium with a time of 1:07.055 in the second round.

Season leader Dominik Fischnaller of Italy, the Olympic bronze medallist, placed eighth in 2:14.309.

He leads the standings on 757 points going into the final event in Winterberg, followed by Loch on 721 and Austria's Wolfgang Kindl on 600, after he placed seventh in the Swiss resort in 2:14.181.

Three times back-to-back Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany dominated the men's doubles competition, recording runs of 53.668sec and 53.515 to finish in 1:47.18.

Their compatriots Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken, the Beijing 2022 silver medallists, placed second at 0.045 off the pace.

Wendl and Arlt continue to lead the standings with 914 points to the 870 of Eggert and Benecken.

Latvia's Mārtiņš Bots and Roberts Plūme were third in 1:47.424.

Back-to-back world champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal provided further success for Germany in the women's doubles, leapfrogging Andrea Vötter and Marion Oberhofer with a superb second run of 54.750 to beat the Italian pair by just 0.002 with their total time of 1:49.577.

Viktorija Ziediņa and Selīna Zvilna of Latvia finished third in 1:50.703.

Vötter and Oberhofer continue to hold a comfortable overall lead with 940 points, followed by Austria's Selina Egle and Lara Michaela Kipp on 815 after they finished fourth in St Moritz and race winners Degenhardt and Rosenthal on 813.

The women's singles and team relay competitions are due to be held tomorrow in St Moritz.