Odermatt is on course to retain the overall Alpine Ski World Cup Crystal Globe this season, and has continued his fine form in the French resorts of Courchevel and Méribel, winning the downhill gold on Tuesday (February 14).

He had a 0.58sec deficit to overcome on his second run in the giant slalom, after Austria's Marco Schwarz laid down a time of 1min 19.47sec on the L'Éclipse course to Odermatt's 1:20.05.

Odermatt's second run was a steady effort of 1:14.03, only the fifth fastest but pushing him into first place with 2:34.08 in total.

The 25-year-old became the youngest male skier to win two individual golds at the World Championships since Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal in 2007.

He was delighted with his success in difficult conditions.

"It was another big fight today," Odermatt said.

"Another difficult race, rough conditions, you always have to push, but stay on your feet.

"It was not easy to focus, and have the energy for the final run.

"I didn't expect to win, Marco skied so well in the first run.

"But he did some mistakes in the second, which helped me for gold."

His compatriot Loïc Meillard produced a superb 1:13.80 on his second run after a fourth-ranking 1:20.60 to climb into second in 2:34.40.

Schwarz won an Alpine combined silver last Tuesday (February 7), but had to settle for bronze in the giant slalom, a discipline he has never won a World Cup in.

Small errors at the top and middle, followed by a bigger mistake towards the end, meant he clocked 1:15.01 on his second run, earning a total time of 2:34.48.

Slovenia's Žan Kranjec was third after the first run in 1:20.23, but slipped to sixth after clocking 1:15.19 on his second.

The women's slalom is due to be held on the penultimate day of the World Championships tomorrow in Méribel.