The 28-year-old’s victory, which was secured with a time of 2min 37.30sec on the iconic Birds of Prey course, comes only three-and-a-half months after he suffered a left ankle fracture in a training fall.

"The last two weeks have been really intense trying to find my speed and my confidence, because when you’re injured you lose a lot of confidence," Hirscher was reported as saying by Reuters.

"It is really unbelievable but it’s just one step further on the way back."

Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen was the runner-up in 2:38.18, while Germany’s Stefan Luitz finished third in 2:38.33.

Luitz led after the first run and managed to hold onto his spot in the top three for his fifth career podium. 

France’s Mathieu Faivre, who ranked second in last season’s giant slalom standings, skied out in the first run.

The men's World Cup tour is due to continue in Val d'Isere in France next weekend.

A giant slalom is scheduled for Saturday (December 9) and is due to be followed by a slalom on Sunday (December 10).

Today’s women’s super-G event in Lake Louise saw Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather triumph and the United States’ Lindsey Vonn crash out for the second time in three races.

Weirather, who was the 2016-2017 super-G crystal globe winner, clocked an unrivalled time of 1:18.52 in the Canadian resort.

Switzerland’s Lara Gut, who claimed victory in last year’s equivalent event, finished second in 1:18.63.

Reigning world champion Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria rounded out the podium in 1:18.79.

Vonn was unable to complete the race after she failed to keep her skis under her when taking a wide turn, leading to a slide out.

It comes just two days after the American crashed out of the downhill event having lost her balance going into the last turn.

The women’s World Cup tour now heads to St Moritz in Switzerland for an Alpine combined event and three super-G races from December 8 to 10.