Former World Cup winner Shea strung together three impressive runs at the world's biggest indoor ski resort to clock a time of 1min 07:28sec to take the first event of the season in the men's lower-limb impairment competition.

The Czech Republic's Tomas Vaverka had looked like he was going to take the gold following a good second run which put him into the lead but Shea regrouped to nail his final run and grab the title ahead of the world number five.

The American served a one-month suspension from the sport earlier this year after returning an adverse analytical finding for Buprenorphine in a urine sample provided at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing Snowboard Cross World Cup in Sochi.

Shea's teammate and world number number three Keith Gabel clocked a time of 1:11:24 to take the bronze medal.

In the upper-limb impairment class, it was an all Italian battle at the top as joint world number one snowboarders Roberto Cavicchi and David Preziosi fought it out for the gold medal.

In the end just 00:70secs separated Cavicchi from second-placed Preziosi with Spain's Adrian Garcia Fresneda completing the podium.

American Amy Purdy renewed her rivalry with the Netherlands' Bibian Mentel in Landgraaf but finished second behind the 2012 world champion ©Getty Images