Taubitz reels Ivanova in on the Latvian ice

Sitting seventh after her first run on the Latvian track, Taubitz laid down a second effort of 42.312 seconds – the fastest of the day – to leap above Ivanova, who herself had moved up from eighth at the half way stage.

The German's total time of 1m24.944s was 0.115s ahead of Ivanova, with Eliza Cauce coming home in third, 0.15s back.

Cutting the Russian's lead at the top of the overall standings to just 17 points, with the season two-thirds gone, Taubitz was left suitably surprised to claim her fourth win of the season.

"Three years ago, I couldn't even qualify here, and now I've won it," she said afterwards.

"I wasn't expecting that. It's unbelievable! My battle with Tatyana Ivanova is great fun and extremely tight."

In the doubles competition, Andris and Juris Sics gave the home crowd something to cheer about as the Latvian brothers grabbed a second win of the season.

They clocked up a cumulative time of 1m23.804s, just 0.03s ahead of German duo Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, with World Cup leaders Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken 0.241s back in third.

Sportsbeat 2020