Vlhová was second after the first giant slalom run, 0.16sec behind Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States, but consistency would hand the Slovakian the victory on home snow.

Runs of 1min 08.51sec and 1:08.15 gave Vlhová a final time of 2:16.66 - coincidently enough for victory by 0.16sec.

Alice Robinson of New Zealand was second, thanks to a blistering second run which at 1:07.49 was the fastest of the day.

Shiffrin, winner of yesterday's slalom contest, had to settle for third place.

Italy's Marta Bassino was fourth and Austria's Ramona Siebenhofer fifth.

Gut-Behrami - a speed specialist - produced the fourth-fastest time of the day on run two, 1:08:22, to haul herself up to ninth place.

Slovakia's Vlhová had threatened to be a runaway Alpine Ski World Cup champion after winning three of the opening four races, but Gut-Behrami's brilliant form since the turn of the year has seen the Swiss star take the overall lead.

Following today's victory, Vlhová is just 36 points off Gut-Behrami's total of 1,256 with six races remaining.

The next stop on the women's Alpine Ski World Cup circuit is Åre in Sweden, where a slalom doubleheader is scheduled to begin on Friday (March 12).

Slalom is crucially a specialty for Vlhová, who tops the World Cup standings in the discipline.

Gut-Behrami, who won two gold medals at this year's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, is hunting a second overall crystal globe, while for Vlhová it would be her first.