Hirscher, a silver medallist in the giant slalom at the Alpine Skiing World Championships last month, leads the men's World Cup standings and showed his class with two phenomenal runs in the German resort.

The Austrian led by 1.99 seconds at the halfway stage of the competition and increased his advantage after the final run by ending with a combined time of 2min 43.23sec to finish 3.28 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, Germany's Felix Neureuther.

Hirscher's winning margin was the third biggest victory in World Cup history, with legendary Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark holder of the largest margin.

"There's no conclusion as to why it worked that good today," Hirscher said.

"I always give my best but I think that today conditions and the course setting worked pretty well for my set up and my style of skiing.

"Everything worked amazing, it is just unbelievable."

Hirscher's compatriot Benjamin Raich took bronze with his time of 2:46.67 finishing ahead of American Olympic gold medallist Ted Ligety in fourth.

Anna Fenninger took combined gold in Bulgaria ©Agence Zoom/Getty Images



Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, Fenninger continued the Austrian gold rush with her first World Cup victory in a combined event.

She led after the super-G and maintained her advantage in the slalom, with her combined time of 2:05.06 enough to claim gold ahead of Slovenia's newly crowned world champion Tina Maze.

"It's incredible to think I won my first World Cup alpine combined today," Fenninger said.

"After the first run, I didn't believe this could be possible.

"I am really surprised.

"I had such a cool feeling coming down the slalom course."

Austria's Kathrin Zettel rounded off the podium, as her time of 2:06.12 saw her take bronze.
 
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