A high-pressure inlet valve (1) for introducing highly pre-compressed combustion air into a combustion chamber (25) of an internal combustion engine, which high-pressure inlet valve has a sliding piston (3) which is guided in a housing (2) and which has a cylindrical piston section (4), the axial length of which is adapted to an axially extending guide section (5), which is of congruent shape with respect to said cylindrical piston section, in the housing (2) such that, during axial displacement of the sliding piston (3), the piston section (4) guided in the guide section (5) shuts off a passage region (6), arranged in the housing (2), for combustion air with respect to the passage of combustion air into the combustion chamber (25) in a closed position (7) and, in a passage position (8), opens up said passage region with respect to the passage of combustion air into the combustion chamber (25), wherein the sliding piston (3), in the passage region (6), has two regions which face toward one another and which are formed as first (10) and second pressure-application regions (11), whose areas, projected onto a plane, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sliding piston (3) are of equal size or differ from one another slightly, and the first pressure-application region (10) is formed in the manner of a disk valve (12) and the second pressure-application region (11) is formed in the manner of an annular surface (13).