On the one-year anniversary of the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in which Yarnold won the skeleton competition, the 26-year-old recovered from fourth after the first run after slipping at the beginning.  .

She recovered with a storming second run and her total time of 1min 49.46sec proved too strong for Canada's Elisabeth Vathje and Austria's Janine Flock, who eventually finished second and third.

"I have never slipped on the push-off in a race before," she said.

"After that I just wanted to make up time and have a clean second run."

Home favourite Janine Flock will be keen to avenge her defeat in tomorrow's European Championship race ©Bongarts/Getty Images



Yarnold will face Flock once again tomorrow in the European Championships, rescheduled following the cancellation of last week's event in La Plagne.

"The duel with Janine in the European Championship race will definitely be exciting," the Briton added.

Flock still leads the overall World Cup standings with 1,129 points, 68 clear of Yarnold ahead of next week's finale in Sochi.

In the men's event meanwhile, Martins Dukurs of Latvia won his sixth World Cup of the season to guarantee himself the overall title with a race to spare.

The European champion posted the fastest time in both runs to beat Russian pairing Alexander Tretiakov and Nikita Tregybov.

He now has an unassailable 226 point lead over his older brother Tomass, who finished eigth today, and with a win at next week's finale in Sochi worth 225 points, he cannot be caught.

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