The two-time Paralympic champion was led through the course by guide Andrea Ravelli and crossed the line after 2min 14.17sec to beat Aigner's time of 2:15.46, giving the Austrian his second silver of the event.

Frenchman Hyacinthe Deleplace and his guide Maxime Jourdan secured bronze after 2:17.92.

Giant slalom was the only gold medal that Bertagnolli was missing to take a clean sweep in the 2019 World Championships.

He was almost forced out of the event after testing positive for coronavirus although he tested negative on January 17 which put him back onto the entry list.

However, he did have to forfeit the chance to defend his titles in the speed events.

"Yesterday was our birthday and today we are the world champions so it’s the best way to celebrate our birthdays," Bertagnolli added.

"We arrived last night so we had no time to check the course, to try the skis.

"We just arrived here and we said, ‘OK, we have to race, we have to ski like always’, and then here we are with the gold medal."

Alexey Bugaev finally topped the podium, this time in the standing giant slalom, after settling for two silvers and a bronze medal so far in Lillehammer.

The Russian Paralympic Committee athlete narrowly beat defending champion Arthur Bauchet of France by 0.14 as they posted times of 2:15.04 and 2:15.18, respectively.

Switzerland's Théo Gmür rounded out the top three in 2:17.85.

Norway's Jesper Pedersen bagged his second gold on his home slopes in the sitting giant slalom, finishing in 2:14.42.

Igor Sikorski came second after 2:20.93 to pick up his first medal in Lillehammer.

It is now the third consecutive World Championships in which the Polish athlete has won a medal.

The United States' Andrew Kurka picked up a bronze in 2:21.25 to add to his earlier bronze in the downhill event.

Competition continues tomorrow with the women's giant slalom visually impaired, sitting, and standing events.