The defending overall World Cup champion and double Olympic gold medallist clocked a combined time of 1min 44.81sec in front of around 45,000 fans in the Austrian town.

Hirscher finished 1.21sec quicker than Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, who did enough for second place in 1:46.02, while Switzerland's Daniel Yule was third.

Victory for the Austrian star saw him clinch a third triumph in Schladming and earned him a 68th World Cup win.

It also cemented his position at the top of the overall standings as he now has a total of 1,216 points and is the red-hot favourite to secure an eight consecutive crystal globe.

Hirscher powered down the course in his first run, clocking the quickest time of 52.29.

The 29-year-old, winner of the giant slalom and combined gold medals at last year's Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, then crossed in 52.52 to seal yet another victory on this year's circuit.

The win came after he suffered a shock defeat to French outsider Clement Noel, who claimed his first World Cup victory in Kitzbühel last weekend.

"The last few days were not the easiest one because of the first runs and everybody is talking about the first runs so I thought to myself 'okay let's show a first run that everyone will want to see' and I'm happy it was possible," Hirscher said.

"It was a perfect run [the second] and it was so crazy to ski and the crowd were amazing."