Pinturault registered a time of 1min 53.31sec to capture his third world title and second in the combined event.

Since winning the overall FIS Alpine Ski World Cup crown in 2021, Pinturault has endured two difficult years on the circuit.

But the Frenchman returned to top form to clinch gold, seeing off the Austrian challenge of Marco Schwarz and Raphael Haaser.

"It's amazing, especially after [his struggles at] the beginning of the winter, it feels pretty great to be here," said Pinturault.

"I hope to enjoy it because it was pretty difficult some months ago."

Pinturault rose to the top of the standings when he posted the quickest super-G time of 1:08.25.

Overall World Cup leader and race favourite Marco Odermatt of Switzerland was disqualified after a mistake in the first run.

Pinturault finished the slalom run in 45.06 as he held on for victory, winning by 0.10 from Schwarz.

"I really tried to attack," Pinturault said of his super-G run.

"I was really on the limit but always on the good side of the limit, so I could handle the whole way down without big mistakes and that was the main goal.

"I think I made not an amazing slalom but a good and strong slalom especially with the number one, because it's really difficult when it's tricky to know where you can push and where you have to control a bit more."

Schwarz threatened to deny Pinturault victory as he moved ahead after first three intermediate splits only to make mistakes in the closing turns, seeing him agonisingly miss out on gold.

"Slalom was very difficult today, especially the last part," said Schwarz who posted a combined time of 1:53.41.

"It was really tight and a lot of combinations.

"I had a little mistake at the banana, but it's part of the game and I'm happy with the silver medal."

Schwarz's teammate Haaser marked his first World Championships with bronze after finishing the two runs in 1:53.75.

His achievement matched his sister Ricarda's bronze medal in yesterday’s women's Alpine combined competition.