Rommel finished the two runs in a combined 1 minute, 50.88 seconds to easily beat Sandro Stielicke, who finished in 1:51.36.

Martins Dukurs of Latvia, who won the World Cup opener a week ago at Park City, Utah, won the bronze, just 0.01 seconds behind Stielicke. Dukurs' brother Tomass was fourth in 1:51.50.

Last February, Rommel struggled to 13th place in the world championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg, and his four victories in the World Cup regular season quickly became an icy afterthought.

"It's kind of revenge for last year's world championships here," said Rommel, who will compete in his second Winter Olympics in February. "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. It was a strong team performance. We have a good team."

Earlier, Mellisa Hollingsworth won the women's race to give Canada, host of the 2010 Winter Games, its third medal in two races.

The men didn't fare so well. Jon Montgomery finished 12th and teammate Jeff Pain was 13th. Both were more than a second behind Rommel.

"I've had better days. You've got to adjust to what you get," said Pain, who qualified for the Olympics a week ago with a tie for sixth at Park City. "Every day from now on is practice for that big day in February. I'll take what I have and be happy about it.

"It's great for her (Hollingsworth), a morale booster," Pain said. "Hopefully, we can carry the momentum forward. We didn't hold up our end of the bargain."

Gregor Staehli of Switzerland was 17th after the first run and more than a second behind after injuring his left hamstring at the start and dropped out of the race.

Hollingsworth led after the first heat and finished the race in 1:54.85 seconds to edge Shelley Rudman of Britain by 0.23 seconds.

Rudman finished just 0.05 seconds ahead of world champion Marion Trott of Germany, who took the bronze in 1:55.13.

"We definitely have come out with a great start, having two podiums," said Hollingsworth, who was third last week at Park City, Utah just behind silver-medal-winning teammate Amy Gough. "It's a great start to hopefully a great ending to the season."

Amy Williams of Britain was fourth in 1:55.36.

Anja Huber of Germany, who won the season-opener, did not compete because she rolled an ankle while jogging along the Lake Placid track on Sunday and was back in Europe rehabbing.

Last week's World Cup opener was trimmed to one run because of heavy snow, and the sliders faced another problem on Friday with a soft track. A steady overnight rain in the snowless Adirondack Mountains and temperatures in the 40s (low teens C) left some water on the course and made the race much different from the fast conditions that prevailed during a week of training.