Holcomb takes fifth win at home track in Lake Placid

Holcomb and his brakeman Sam McGuffie were the fastest pair in both heats with a cumulative time of 1:49.47 which was 0.27 seconds faster than Justin Kripps and Jesse Lumsden in second.

Fellow Canadians Chris Spring and Lascelles Brown rounded off the top three after missing out on second by just one thousandth of a second.

Prior to Friday's race at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex, Holcomb had won just two medals in his previous 34 World Cup races, including gold at the same track 12 months ago.

And the American, who won two bronze medals at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, said he never gets bored of success in front of the home fans despite missing the track record by 0.05 seconds.

"Does it ever get old winning on your home track? No," he said.

"Does it ever get old winning? No. Everyone wants to win, every single person out here wanted to win.

"But to have a victory, to win again, to be on the top is nice no matter where it is. I never thought we'd be this close to the two-man track record."

There was some consolation for second-placed Kripps however, as he took the lead in the overall standings after finishing fourth in the opening race in Whistler.

Defending World Cup champion Yunjong Won of Korea finished fourth in Lake Placid and sits second in the overall standings, ten points behind the Canadian.

Sportsbeat 2016