It was a thrilling finale at the Italian resort as Karl, who won silver at Vancouver 2010 and bronze at Sochi 2014, edged out Prommegger by one thousandths of a second.

The bronze medal went to Slovenian Žan Košir who beat home favourite Roland Fischnaller by 1.06sec in the small final.

Fellow Italian Daniele Bagozza came fifth ahead of Swiss duo Dario Caviezel and Nevin Galmarini while Poland’s Oskar Kwiatkoski, Slovenia’s Tim Mastnak and Italy’s Aaron March also secured a top-10 finish.

"The feeling is great," said Karl.

"To win the title you have to collect victories so I’m really happy now.

"It’s always tight racing against Andreas and I think here in Carezza there were parts where he was in front, and then other parts where I was in front. In the end I managed to win, but it was great fighting and great racing."

With Olympic champion Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic missing the event in favour of the downhill at the Alpine World Cup in Val-d’Isère this weekend, Ramona Theresia Hofmeister seized her chance.

Germany’s Hofmeister, a bronze medallist at Pyeongchang 2018, defeated Ladina Jenny of Switzerland by 0.46 in the big final.

Hofmeister was joined on the podium by compatriot Selina Joerg who clinched bronze after Cheyenne Loch, also of Germany, failed to finish the small final.

Sofia Nadyrshina of Russia finished in the top five while Italy’s Nadya Ochner and Jessica Keiser of Switzerland came sixth and seventh respectively.

"I’m so happy to be back on the podium and to share it with Selina again," said Hofmeister.

"Thank you Carezza for hosting this incredible event. It’s a perfect slope here and we had a perfect day of racing today. I’m just so happy."

The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup is now heading for a holiday break with the next competition scheduled to take place in Scuol in Switzerland on January 9.