The team of Francesco Friedrich, a multiple world champion, and Thorsten Margins thought they had done enough to clinch the title as they finished in a combined 3min16.86sec.

But the Canadian pairing of Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz joined them on the top step of the podium by clocking an identical time.

Latvia's Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga claimed bronze, completing their four runs in an overall 3:16.91 to end a narrow 0.05 margin adrift.

It marks the first time joint gold medals have been awarded at the Winter Olympics since Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland shared the women's downhill crown in Sochi four years ago.

There were also two swimming gold medallists at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where Canadian Penny Oleksiak and Simone Manuel of the United States touched the wall at the same time in the women's 100 metres freestyle.

Canada's only other triumph in the two-man bobsleigh at the Games was also a shared victory as Pierre Lueders and David MacEachern finished in joint first place with the Italian sled of Antonio Tartaglia and Günther Huber.

"It's great, it's two more people as happy as we are," said Kripps. 

"They are amazing competitors, we have been friends and rivals for years.

"Freidrich laid down such an amazing run and Margis has been pushing really well. 

"I tried to keep my mind clear and do my thing and we laid down the best run I have ever had. 

"And we managed to take a couple of hundredths off the push too and we definitely needed it."