Favourite Meyers Taylor, who won the title in 2015 and claimed the silver medal at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, confirmed her sensational form, winning the world title after clinching four consecutive World Cup victories.
But she and partner Kehri Jones had to sweat it out at the end as their lead in the fourth and final run all but evaporated with Canada's Kaillie Humphries having raced before them.
The Americans hung on to win by three hundredths of a second ahead of Canada's Humphries and Melissa Lotholz who had to settle for silver.
The United States secured a second podium spot as Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans took bronze.
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Germany's Koenigssee, the world's first ever artificial bobsleigh, skeleton and luge track, was picked as host of the world championships after they were taken away from Russia's Sochi following the country's doping scandal.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
