Considering that his father Christian won the Kizbuehel slalom in 1979, Felix Neureuther's first career World Cup victory Sunday was a dream come true. The 25-year-old German racer, who is in his seventh season on tour, captured Sunday's slalom in the Austrian resort by .39 seconds over France's Julien Lizeroux.
"I hope our gondolas are directly behind each other," said Neureuther regarding the Kitzbuehel tradition where all champions have their names inscribed on the Hahnenkammbahn gondolas. "It's a special moment winning in the same place as my father did."
Neureuther, who has two career second place slalom finishes, was third after the first run, trailing Austria's Reinfried Herbst by .41 seconds. Italy's Manfred Moelgg was second in the morning run, .19 ahead of the German.
With Sweden's Andre Myhrer at the bottom in the lead, Neureuther attacked the 811-meter Ganslern course and laid down a smart and mistake-free run. The Garmisch-Partenkirchen native moved into the top spot by .32 with a combined time of 1:37.35.
Moelgg failed to make a gate near the top of his run, leaving Neureuther in the lead with only Herbst remaining. The Austrian fan favorite, who won the first two slaloms of the season, also had problems missing a gate just slightly further down than Moelgg. He climbed back up to get through it, but ultimately finished 26th.
Neureuther celebrated triumphantly in the finish area, having finally achieved that elusive victory.
"I'm sure everybody would say the best place to win is Kitzbuehel," he said in the finish area after the race. "I'm so unbelievably happy. I waited a really long time to win a race and today it's perfect."
"I didn't have an easy beginning to the season," he said. "I went out twice in slalom and in Germany everybody in the media was pushing hard. I was so down and had motivational problems. I started the New Year 2010 and thought this is a new year and a new chance. I went out with my friends and partied hard and cleared my head. Then I started the new year and I've made it to the finish in four races and have a victory."
The mishaps by Herbst and Moelgg, allowed France's Julien Lizeroux, who was seventh after the first run, more than a second behind Herbst to claim second. Italy's Giulino Razzoli, who won for the first time in Zagreb a few weeks ago, took third place, .99 behind the German.
The second place result by Lizeroux propelled him to the top of the World Cup slalom standings after six races, with 366 points. Herbst is now 61 behind the Frenchman with 305.
In the combined event, comprising cumulative times from yesterday's Hahnenkamm Downhill and two runs from Sunday's slalom, Croatia's Ivica Kostelic was victorious defeating Switzerland's Silvan Zurbriggen by a substantial 2.22 seconds.
Kostelic was sensational in yesterday's downhill finishing seventh, only .97 seconds behind Cuche's spectacular run, not a bad day for a slalom specialist. In the Sunday slalom, he was once again seventh, which was more than sufficient to earn him the combined win.
"It's a different category of winning here," said Kostelic about his first Kitzbuehel combined victory, after finishing second last season. "Winning here in Kitzbuehel is just awesome, something special."
Kostelic has vowed to fight for the last remaining classic combined on tour, as the traditional two-day race has been replaced by the super combined at all venues. It appears that this will also be the case in Kitzbuehel next season, ending a tradition at the historic ski racing venue dating back to 1931.
"Unfortunately, this is a funeral of classic combined and this is a great loss for skiing today," said the Croatian veteran. "If we don't see any more classic combined in the future, it's a shame for skiing. I don't know what the odds are. I guess everything is leading towards super combined. I guess we will lose part of the history here, but at least I was able to catch this last one."
Austria's Benjamin Raich was third in the combined. With his fourth place showing in the slalom, the veteran racer moved back to the top of the overall World Cup standings with 853 points. Switzerland's Carlo Janka, who had a subpar weekend has 829. Didier Cuche's two victories and a highly respectable 13th in the combined moved him up to third with 746.
The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup tour stays in Austria moving east to Schladming for the annual "Night Slalom."
By Brian Pinelli
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