Canada's Mirela Rahneva captures 1st gold medal of World Cup season in Latvia

After a two-year drought, Canada's Mirela Rahneva is back on top of a skeleton World Cup podium.

The two-time Olympian from Ottawa captured gold at a competition in Sigulda, Latvia, on Friday, vaulting up the standings with a speedy second run.

Rahneva, 35, sat third after the first heat with her time of 51.75 seconds, but improved to 51.35 seconds in her second run.

That left the Canadian sitting in bronze-medal position with a total time of one minute 43.10 seconds and just two competitors left to go.

But neither silver medallist Kim Meylemans of Germany, whose second run was only eighth-fastest, or fellow German Hannah Neise, who wound up with bronze trailing Rahneva by 0.31 seconds, could catch the Canadian.

The victory marks Rahneva's first gold medal since January 2022 in Utah. It's also her second podium appearance of the year after taking bronze at the season opener in China. She moves to eighth in the overall World Cup standings.

Hallie Clarke of Belleville, Ont., was three-quarters of a second slower than Rahneva to place eighth, while Jane Channell of North Vancouver, B.C., finished in 17th.

Live coverage from Latvia continues on Saturday at 3 a.m. ET with the women's monobob event on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.