Mellisa Hollingsworth won skeleton gold on Friday in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth captured her first World Cup skeleton gold medal of the season on Friday in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Hollingsworth was fastest in both runs, finishing with a combined time of one minute, 54.85 seconds.

The Eckville, Alta., native won bronze in Park City, Utah, last week. She is targeting a second Olympic medal in Vancouver after earning bronze in Torino in 2006.

Hollingsworth takes over the World Cup lead with 425 points, 23 more than Shelley Rudman of Great Britain.

"We definitely have come out with a great start, having two podiums," Hollingsworth said. "It's a great start to hopefully a great ending to the season."

It was her first career win on the Lake Placid track, which she admitted wasn't her favourite due to its quick transitions feeling like "a washing machine."

Amy Gough of Abbotsford, B.C., was sixth after landing on the podium for the first time in her career last week with a silver.

Gough was leading with six racers to go on Friday, but her time of 1:56.01 didn't hold up for the podium.

Michelle Kelly of Fort St. John, B.C., ended up in a tie for seventh with Germany's Kerstin Szymkowiak. Their time was 1:56.06.

Rudman, the 2006 Olympic silver medallist, moved from fourth after the first run to second overall. She crossed in 1:55.08.

Germany's Marian Trott, world champion last season, was five 100ths of a second behind Rudman in winning the bronze.

Trott said the rainy weather this week affected conditions.

"The track was slower," she said. "The timing was not so OK, but the problem was for all the athletes. I'm happy with the results."

Former champions finished further back.

Two-time world titlist Katie Uhlaender of the U.S. was 12th, with Swiss Olympic champion Maya Pedersen in 16th.

Anja Huber of Germany, who won the season opener, did not compete because of an ankle injury.

Frank Rommel and Sandro Stielicke finished 1-2 for Germany in the men's event. Rommel had the fastest time of both runs for a combined time of 1:50.88.

Martins Dukurs of Latvia was second after the first run, but dropped back a spot. He finished one position ahead of brother Tomass.

Jon Montgomery was 12th, one spot ahead of Canadian teammate Jeff Pain.

The men's victory was sweet redemption for Rommel, who won four World Cup races last season before struggling to 13th place in the skeleton world championships here.

Rommel finished in 1:50.88 seconds, nearly a half-second ahead of Stielicke.

"It's kind of revenge for last year's world championships here," Rommel said. "It wasn't my race then. This time I knew how to take care of myself. I'm quite happy to bring it all together today."

Stielicke finished in 1:51.36, followed by Dukurs, who won the World Cup opener a week ago at Park City, Utah. Dukurs took the bronze, just 0.01 seconds behind Stielicke, and Dukurs's brother Tomass was fourth in 1:51.50.

The opener at Park City was plagued by heavy snow. On Friday, sliders faced a soft track because of a steady overnight rain and temperatures just above the freezing mark. That left some water on the course and made the race much different from the fast conditions that prevailed during a week of training.

With files from The Associated Press