Lizzy Yarnold gave another show of intent in the final round of the skeleton World Cup with her best result since the opening round of the season.
The reigning Olympic champion appeared to have gone off the boil in the middle part of the season as finishes of 23rd, 13th, 16th and 19th led to worries for her form before PyeongChang 2018.
But a top ten in St Moritz last weekend gave her renewed hope and she backed that up with a fourth-place finish in Koenigssee on Friday.
"I'm super happy with my 4th place," said the reigning Olympic champion.
"It’s been a mammoth team effort over months and good to come in the top ten for the World Cup. There’s been many lows so I'm excited to finish the circuit on a high."
The result kept her in ninth place in the overall skeleton World Cup, with fellow Brit Laura Deas slipping to seventh after failing to make the second run in Koenigssee.
Events in Koenigssee were disrupted by snow in the morning, with the first run being cancelled after Deas has already been down.
The sliders came back in the afternoon, after the men’s event, when conditions had cleared but things got no better for Deas.
The Brit, who has recorded five top-ten finishes this season, clocked a time of 53.63s which was only good enough for 23rd place.
Teammate Madelaine Smith, in only her third World Cup race, finished one place higher in a time of 53.4s, while Yarnold ended the first run in joint fifth place with a mark of 52.48s.
And she improved even more in the second run, posting the second fastest time of the day – 52 seconds dead – to move up to fourth.
Yarnold’s time was only beaten on the day by World Champion, race winner and overall World Cup champion Jacqueline Loelling – the German clocking 51.89s.
In the men’s race Dom Parsons just missed out on a second consecutive top ten finish after the very last man down the track bumped him into 11th position.
Countryman Marcus Wyatt finished one place behind him in 12th, with Jerry Rice coming home 14th to make it three Brits from places 11-14.
The result meant Parsons finished the World Cup season in 12th place, with Rice 19th and Wyatt 22nd from just four race starts.
Sportsbeat 2018