The Swiss blew a two-goal lead at the Royal Arena in the Group A encounter in Copenhagen but had the last laugh in a thrilling finale as they won 3-2.

Enzo Corvi capitalised upon a drop pass to skate around the Austrian defence and fool goalie Bernhard Starkbaum before tucking the puck inside the near post.

Switzerland outshot their opponents 41-19 but never appeared comfortable.

Despite four successive Olympic wins over Austria, today's result marked their first World Championship victory over the side since a 5-1 success in 1993 in Germany.

"In five-on-five [ice] hockey, we played fine," said Swiss captain Raphael Diaz.

"All our lines did well. 

"Individual mistakes, however, gave us problems."

France also recovered from a 7-0 thrashing by Russia to beat Belarus 6-2 today elsewhere in the group at the same venue.

Czech Republic then beat Slovakia 3-2 after overtime in the evening game.

In Group B at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Finland were utterly dominant in thrashing South Korea 8-1.

Latvia also required overtime before defeating Norway 3-2.

United States followed their overtime win over Canada yesterday with a 4-0 success over hosts Denmark.