Kazuhiro Koshi solidified his position as a medal favorite at next year's Winter Olympics when the Japanese won Saturday's World Cup event in skeleton, a sled sport which will return to the Olympic program after a 54-year absence.
Koshi claimed his second career victory on the World Cup circuit when he slid down the Spiral track in Nagano with a two-run total of 1 minute, 51.80 seconds to beat American Lincoln DeWitt into second place by 0.12 second. Jeff Pain of Canada was third.
In the women's event, Steffi Hanzlik of Germany won in 1:55.03, finishing 0.26 second ahead of Britain's Alex Coomber. Germany's Monique Riekewald came third in 1:55.82.