Pavlichenko won the men's race after recording a time of 1min 36.074sec after his two runs.

His compatriot Aleksandr Gorbatcevich was in second with 1:36.262 while Austria's Olympic champion David Gleirscher came third in 1:36.338.

The top three in the overall World Cup standings all suffered from disappointing performances, with leader Johannes Ludwig of Germany finishing in 12th place. 

Austria's Wolfgang Kindl, second in the standings, finished in tenth, while Germany's triple Olympic and six-time World Cup champion Felix Loch was one place above him in ninth as he bids to defend his title.

Despite this, they retain their positions in the top three of the standings with 473, 440 and 437 points respectively. 

Pavlichenko, who also won the World Championship title at the Latvian track in 2015, has risen to fifth place with 433 points.

The team relay event also took place today with Latvia delighting the home crowd with victory. 

Their team of Kendija Aparjode, Kristers Aparjods, Oskars Gudramovics and Peteris Kalnins recorded a time of 2:13.213 to beat Russia's time of 2:13.369, set by Tatyana Ivanova, Pavlichenko and the doubles duo of Vladislav Yuzhakov and Iurii Prokhorov.

In third were Olympic champions Germany, with their team of Natalie Geisenberger, Loch, Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken suffering only their second defeat since the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. 

Germany still top the overall standings with 355 points.

Russia are in second with 300 points, while Latvia has moved up to third with 270 points.

The next FIL Luge World Cup event to take place will be in Altenberg, Germany, from February 2 to 3.