The Olympic giant slalom gold medallist leads the way in the overall Alpine Ski World Cup standings and has now become world champion for the first time.

The Swiss skier has often played second fiddle to Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in the men’s downhill competition this season but produced a stunning performance at the French resort, registering a time of 1min 47.05sec to take the title.

"It was for me the perfect run, maybe the best downhill I have ever showed," said Odermatt.

"We did another great battle, I guess. 

"But just one can win.

"He [Kilde] would deserve the gold medal as well, but today it was on my side.

"I felt it was a perfect run, when you look and you know some fast skiers had already been down, I knew it was good."

A world title continues to evade Kilde as he clocked 1:47.53 - 0.48 off Odermatt - for his second silver in Courchevel Meribel after runner-up in the super-G.

Canada's Cameron Alexander, who has just one World Cup podium to his name, secured a surprise bronze in 1:47.94, edging out Austria's Marco Schwarz by just 0.04.

"I’m so happy with the approach I brought today," said Alexander.

"I made a couple of mistakes, but that happens sometimes.

"I was just trying to push the whole way, to not think and just go.

"When you bring that approach, it is fast. You can make mistakes but that's ski racing.

"I was hanging on a bit, but if you feel like that, you know you are going fast.

"I was yelling at myself, 'hold on to this'."