The 31-year old clinched his maiden world title with a near perfect run in a time of 1min 43.18sec ahead of American Travis Ganong, while compatriot Beat Feuz took bronze.

American Steven Nyman narrowly missed out on a podium place as he finished fourth, just 0.03 seconds shy of a medal, while Austria's Sochi 2014 champion Matthias Mayer was ninth in a race which did not feature household name Bode Miller after he crashed heavily in the Super G event.

"It's incredible," Kueng said.

"I had a really good run.

"My skis are so fast."

On what was a truly historic day, all three medallists earned a place on the podium at a World Championships for the first time in their careers.

While a lot of the talk centred around the notable absentees from the race, it was Keung who seized his moment with a truly stunning victory on the Birds of Prey course.

The Swiss navigated the tricky conditions with the composure of a world champion as he finished 0.24 seconds in front of Ganong and 0.31 ahead of Feuz.

Bode Miller suffered a nasty crash in the Super G event which ruled him out of the downhill race ©Getty Images



Although Miller's injury, sustained in a nasty crash, keeping the Americanout of the race, the start list still carried the strong presence of the likes of Norwegian pair Kjetil Jansrud and Aksel Lund Svindal.

But neither could produce the form they have demonstrated in the past as Lund Svindal finished sixth, while Jansrud languished in 15th place.

"It was tight, but that's racing," Svindal said.

"It's a good place, I was hoping for a touch better because a medal would have been the perfect way to wrap this week up, but that's the way it goes."

The World Championships are due continue tomorrow when the men's Alpine combined takes centre stage, starting with the downhill event before the slalom takes place later in the afternoon.

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