"I hope that they place my Gondola next to my Dad's," exclaimed Felix Neureuther after winning the 2010 Kitzbuehel Slalom. Neureuther came from third after the first run to win his first World Cup slalom. With both the Slalom and the Combined being affected by the results of each racer coming down, the times from the downhill being added to the two runs of the slalom. After his seventh in the downhill, Ivica Kostelic added the Kitzbuehel Combined to his list of victories with seventh in the Slalom.

The Ganslern course is one of the Classic slopes. From the moment the racers start the Rolex timing it twists and turns down the hill, the course going over roads and even nearing the finish, the racers go up hill. This course is unique and very special in the history of the sport.  For Neureuther, so often accused of skiing fast yet making catastrophic mistakes, this time he felt that he "skied smart through the difficult sections" to win.  Neureuther was "all over the place," when describing his emotions in winning his first world cup race. "I had a very good first run and was pushing hard in the second," was how the German described his two runs.

For Julien Lizeroux, winner in 2009, this was a week where he accomplished his childhood dream of competing in the Hahnenkamm Downhill. "No one had big legs today," reflected the popular and amiable Frenchman, in explaining how many of the big racers were lethargic in their racing. "Slalom is the big fight, after the first run I was a little disappointed as I skied too carefully and lost one second. In the second I had nothing to lose and went for it, I pushed very hard and I skied with my head and heart. When you do this you score a good race," explained Lizeroux who also placed fourth in the Combined. "I was only two hundredths behind and I know where I lost them," stated the smiling Frenchman!

For Giuliano Razzoli, third place was further proof that the Italian team is on the right track. "My first run was very good in the first part and the last part but not good in the middle. In the second run I made my best in the first part and the second part but had a little mistake near the finish," was how the Italian explained his runs.

The first run was won by the Austrian Reinfried Herbst with Italian Manfred Moelgg four tenths behind him and Neureuther back in third. When Neureuther came down to take the lead from Lizeroux, no one could have expected the turn of events that were to follow.  Moelgg was next down and he made an error that caused him to have to climb back up to a gate, costing him any chance of the win.  With Neureuther safely in the finish, all eyes were then on Herbst. Herbst was the World Cup point's leader at the start of the race and with a lead of over half a second on the German before the second run; this should have been a safe run.  Sadly for Herbst a mistake in the middle section of the course saw him ski wide and then he had to climb up. While Herbst was gracious in defeat, for Neureuther and Kostelic the joy in victory was obvious.

Like Lizeroux in the slalom, Silvan Zurbriggen was the defending champion in the Combined and he also placed second in the Combined race.  The Kitzbuehel Combined is unique in being the only Combined event that uses the classic formula of the times calculated by the Rolex timing from the full length Downhill and a two run slalom added together.  "I was really tired after the Downhill," explained Zurbriggen, "I am really happy with the second place," he continued. Benni Raich from Austria took third place in the Combined along with fourth place in the Slalom.

With the winners of each of the races having a gondola named in their honour, the Hahnenkamm Bergbahn will now have to name two new Gondolas to honour Felix Neureuther and Ivica Kostelic for their wins in the Slalom and Combined respectively, for Didier Cuche they will have to add his two victories to his Gondola!

Hahnenkamm-Race
January 24, 2010
Kitzbuehel, Austria

Neureuther earns elusive first victory

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
FISalpine.com
Sunday 24 January 2010

RESULTS
Men's World Cup slalom race
Ganslern course, KITZBUEHEL, Austria

1. Felix Neureuther, Germany, 1 minute, 37.35 seconds (49.14 seconds-48.21
seconds).
2. Julien Lizeroux, France, 1:37.74 (49.55-48.19).
3. Giuliano Razzoli, Italy, 1:38.34 (49.76-48.58).
4. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1:38.45 (49.54-48.91).
5. Michael Janyk, Canada, 1:38.60 (50.02-48.58).
6. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 1:38.66 (49.97-48.69).
7. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 1:38.93 (49.78-49.15).
8. Mattias Hargin, Sweden, 1:39.06 (49.52-49.54).
9. Steve Missillier, France, 1:39.15 (51.17-47.98).
10. Mario Matt, Austria, 1:39.40 (51.18-48.22).
11. Julien Cousineau, Canada, 1:39.50 (50.90-48.60).
12. Brad Spence, Canada, 1:39.55 (50.64-48.91).
13. Cristian Deville, Italy, 1:39.72 (51.42-48.30).
14. Trevor White, Canada, 1:40.08 (51.22-48.86).
15. Naoki Yuasa, Japan, 1:40.21 (50.77-49.44).
16. Anton Lahdenperae, Sweden, 1:40.33 (50.81-49.52).
17. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 1:40.40 (50.49-49.91).
18. Wolfgang Hoerl, Austria, 1:40.41 (50.89-49.52).
19. Bernard Vajdic, Slovenia, 1:40.44 (51.46-48.98).
20. Lars Elton Myhre, Norway, 1:40.46 (50.98-49.48).
21. Kilian Albrecht, Bulgaria, 1:40.91 (51.50-49.41).
22. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 1:43.15 (48.95-54.20).
23. Ted Ligety, United States, 1:43.79 (50.07-53.72).
24. Thomas Mermillod Blondin, France, 1:43.93 (51.19-52.74).
25. Alexandre Anselmet, France, 1:44.00 (51.10-52.90).
26. Reinfried Herbst, Austria, 1:45.17 (48.54-56.63).
27. Nolan Kasper, United States, 1:55.71 (51.29-1:04.42).
Did Not Finish Second Run
Christoph Dreier, Austria; Andre Myhrer, Sweden; Filip Trejbal, Czech Republic.

Combined
1. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 3 minutes, 33.64 seconds (1:54.71-1:38.93).
2. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 3:35.86 (1:55.46-1:40.40).
3. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 3:36.05 (1:57.60-1:38.45).
4. Julien Lizeroux, France, 3:36.07 (1:58.33-1:37.74).
5. Natko Zrncic-Dim, Croatia, 3:37.93 (1:54.97-1:42.96).
6. Kjetil Jansrud, Norway, 3:38.66 (1:56.26-1:42.40).
7. Carlo Janka, Switzerland, 3:39.36 (1:54.99-1:44.37).
8. Ondrej Bank, Czech Republic, 3:39.75 (1:58.75-1:41.00).
9. Romed Baumann, Austria, 3:39.95 (1:55.22-1:44.73).
10. Ted Ligety, United States, 3:40.95 (1:57.16-1:43.79).

World Cup Slalom Standings
(After 6 races)
1. Julien Lizeroux, France, 366 points.
2. Reinfried Herbst, Austria, 305.
3. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 276.
4. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 214.
5. Giuliano Razzoli, Italy, 208.
6. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 204.
7. Felix Neureuther, Germany, 179.
8. Mattias Hargin, Sweden, 177.
9. Michael Janyk, Canada, 174.
10. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 161.

World Cup Combined Final Standings
(After 4 races)
1. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 246 points.
2. Carlo Janka, Switzerland, 216.
3. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 172.
4. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 166.
5. Bode Miller, United States, 145.
6. Romed Baumann, Austria, 134.
7. Natko Zrncic-Dim, Croatia, 127.
8. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 109.
9. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 101.
10. Kjetil Jansrud, Norway, 88.
(tie) Julien Lizeroux, France, 88.

Overall World Cup Standings
(After 24 races)
1. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 853 points.
2. Carlo Janka, Switzerland, 829.
3. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 746.
4. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 587.
5. Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 565.
6. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 493.
7. Julien Lizeroux, France, 468.
8. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 453.
9. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 452.
10. Ted Ligety, United States, 435.
11. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 391.
12. Bode Miller, United States, 361.
13. Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canada, 359.
14. Werner Heel, Italy, 347.
15. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 330.