Mayer was quickest in the final section to complete the course in 1min 19.94sec, earning his third Olympic gold medal after the Pyeongchang 2018 super-G success and a downhill title at Sochi 2014.

The 31-year-old is the first male Alpine skier to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games, and joins an exclusive club of four who have won three or more Olympic titles.

Also on three are fellow Austrian Toni Sailer, France's Jean-Claude Killy and Alberto Tomba of Italy.

On four Olympic golds is Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the United States nearly pulled off the upset, putting together a threatening run, but lost speed near the bottom of the piste and missed out on gold by by 0.04sec.

"It was great skiing, it was a great race, it was a close race," said Mayer, who also won bronze in the downhill yesterday.

"It feels great to hear the national anthem at the victory ceremony."

Adrian Smiseth Sejersted of Norway and reigning world champion Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria were fourth and fifth, respectively.

James Crawford of Canada, who finished fourth in the downhill, had another strong performance and placed sixth in front of Romed Baumann from Germany.

German Andreas Sander, France's Blaise Giezendanner and Trevor Philp of Canada completed the top 10.

Swiss contenders Marco Odermatt, the overall Alpine Ski World Cup leader, and Beat Feuz - the Pyeongchang 2018 runner-up and yesterday's downhill gold medallist - did not finish their runs.

Nor did Italian Christof Innerhofer, a two-time Olympic medallist who suffered the same fate in the downhill.

Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, a bronze medallist in 2018, could only finish 23rd.

Women's slalom is on the Alpine skiing agenda tomorrow.