The men’s gold medal in an event that got the 2018-2019 FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup season underway went to Tim Mastnak of Slovenia.

For most of the day it looked as if Ledecká - who, historically, won Olympic titles in both parallel giant slalom snowboarding and alpine Super G skiing at Pyeongchang 2018 - was on for another gold.

The three-time reigning parallel Crystal Globe winner was the fastest through qualifications.

However, Ledecká is coming off of two heavy weeks on the World Cup tour already, having spent the first half of December competing on the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup circuit.

Whether fatigue played a factor in Ledecká’s final performance or not, Ochner produced a top performance under pressure as she triumphed with a no-holds-barred final run.

"To get my first victory on home soil is incredible," an emotional Ochner said at the finish,

"Having my friends, family, and fans here, and knowing also there’s a lot of people watching on TV is incredible.

"I haven’t really realised it yet…but I won and it’s great."

With her runner-up result, the 23-year-old Ledecká continues a run of four straight podium finishes at the season-opener in Carezza.

Third place on the day went to Romana Theresia Hofmeister of Germany, who has been struggling with back problems all off-season, and had only completed two days of on-snow training before today’s event.

After qualifying fourth in the men’s competition, Mastnak went on to beat Austria’s Sebastian Kislinger in the semi-finals before taking on one of the most experienced and decorated riders in the world in Benny Karl.

Mastnak beat the burly Austrian by 0,73 seconds to claim his second career win - with his previous one coming in his last parallel giant slalom race last season in Scuol.

The runner-up result for Karl was his 35th career podium, but his first since he won in Rogla almost a year ago, and gives the four-time world champion a strong start to his 15th full World Cup season.

Third place on the day went to Kislinger, as he came out on top of an all-Austrian small final after his team-mate Andreas Prommegger slipped out on a turn in the middle of the Carezza course and was forced to settle for fourth.

From Carezza, the FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour moves to Cortina d’Ampezzo for a night competition on Saturday (December 15).