Frenchman Vaultier's victory was his second in a row in the World Cup after the Sochi 2014 gold medallist also triumphed last time out in Feldberg, Germany, last month.

He relegated Canada's Christopher Robanske into second place in the final with Lucas Eguibar of Spain coming through in third.

“It was an interesting race with a lot of technical parts and features," said Vaultier after the action on the 1,100 metres long purpose-built course.

"It was not easy to stay in front from top to bottom.

"It was a tight final with a little mess in my back.

"I'm happy and I hope that I can keep the momentum."

Vaultier now has 17 World Cup victories and the 28-year-old leads the overall standings with 2,980 points after four races.

That puts him 480 points above Russia's Nikolay Olyunin at the halfway point of the season, with the second placed athlete having to settle for a disappointing 21st place in front of his home crowd.

Samkova, also the Olympic champion from Sochi, dominated all of her heats and the 22-year-old Czech star then came home in front of Belle Brockhoff of Australia and Michela Moioli of Italy in the final.

"Today was great although I'm still a little bit tired from this sickness of December," she said.

"I didn't have much time to work on my stamina so far.

"But it was an awesome course and I loved it from the first run.

"I was very focused today as I really wanted to win.

"I'm really happy."

Samkova is now just 160 points behind leader and defending champion Nelly Moenne Loccoz of France in second place in the overall standings.

The World Cup season will continue with a Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics test event in Bokwang on February 27.