Lying in third place was Russia's Aleksandria Fratceva, ahead of another Briton in Millie Knight, with the British trio all battling together to reach the podium at Sochi 2014.

This British success was all the more impressive considering the fact that their preparations were dogged by the retirement of former teammate Heather Mills in an ongoing row over equipment changes with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Jade Etherington is in good form and is another great British hope for a medal at Sochi 2014
©Getty Images


Elsewhere on the women's side, German success from last week's season opener continued as Anna Schaffelhuber led the way in the sitting class while Andrea Rothfuss did likewise in the standing category.

In the latter disciplines France's Marie Bochet provided the sternest challenge and got the better of Rothfuss in the slalom event, where the German finished down in sixth place. 

On the men's side there were two wins apiece for Poland's Maciej Krezel and Slovakia's Miroslav Haraus in the visually impaired categories, while Russia's Alexey Bugaev was the top performer in the standing class.

On home slopes Austria enjoyed less success than in Germany last week but Mattias Lanzinger provided the main opposition to Bugaev in winning the giant slalom competition.

Another Austrian in Roman Rabl also succeeded with sitting class victories in the Super G and super combined events while the slalom and giant slalom were won by Croatia's Dino Sokolovic. 

The third and next round of the Europa Cup series is due to take place on January 24-25 in La Molina, Spain.