The 31-year-old double Olympic medallist won the opening event of the season - a parallel giant slalom competition held in Carezza in Italy on December 15.

He then followed that up with a parallel slalom bronze medal in the second World Cup leg in Cortina d'Ampezzo on December 17.

It means that the Austrian sits second in the overall rankings behind Russian Andrey Sobolev, who won in Cortina after finishing second behind Karl in Carezza.

Karl, who won Olympic giant slalom silver at Vancouver 2010 and then slalom bronze at Sochi 2014, is hoping home snow will provide an advantage in Bad Gastein.

The third leg of the season will be a parallel slalom event.

"The results in the first race were not only pleasing, I was really overwhelmed by it," he told Nön.at. 

"In recent years, I have been brutally trained to be able to celebrate again, and my goal is to keep constantly on this level."

Bulgaria's Radoslav Yankov, the overall defending champion, will be looking to threaten the top of the podium again after beginning the season with a bronze.

He sits fourth in the overall standings, behind third-placed Italian Roland Fischnaller. 

In women's competition, Czech athlete Ester Ledecká tops the overall standings after a strong start to the season.

The defending overall champion was second in Carezza before triumphing on the slopes in Cortina. 

Ina Meschik of Austria could provide competition at her home course after winning the opening leg of the season, which sees her sit second overall.

Daniela Ulbing and Julia Dujmovits, two more Austrians, are third and fourth in the rankings respectively. 

After tomorrow's individual competition, a team event is scheduled for Wednesday (January 11).

The event is the 150th FIS World Cup at the resort.