Germans dominate Madonna night slalom

The lights were bright and temperatures high in Madonna di Campiglio for the third men’s slalom World Cup of the year. A steep, demanding hill, made even more so by the warm weather and challenging course sets, saw Germany’s Felix Neureuther and Fritz Dopfer shine under the lights on a dreary night in Italy.

Sitting first and second respectively after run one, Neureuther and Dopfer held on through the deteriorating course conditions to give Neureuther his first win of the year and Dopfer his second podium. It is the second time in 2014 that they have finished in that order in a World Cup slalom, with the other coming in Kranjska Gora back in March.

Neureuther navigated the tight, quick first run set with ease and took the lead away from his teammate by 0.09 seconds. The second run was set with more flow and space between the gates, but the ruts that developed throughout the run caused trouble for several racers. But Neureuther, who was leading after the first run a week ago in Are, had no trouble on his second run today in the challenging conditions. He built upon his lead at every interval and skied an impressive, beautiful run — smoothly skiing into the ruts and carrying speed from turn to turn to take his 10th career World Cup victory, the most by a German male.

“Yeah amazing, last time in Are it was so close and I was leading also there after the first run, and now I just wanted to do it perfectly and it worked really, really good for me,” said an elated Neureuther of his run.

Dopfer, who started first on run one, took advantage of his start position to head into the second leg with only a nine-hundredths deficit. He skied well starting 29th in the ruts, and despite a small bobble right before the finish, was able to hold off the charge of third-place finisher Jens Byggmark.

“It was an amazing day, to once again repeat what we did last year in Kranjska Gora is something special. Tonight is also my second podium of the season for so I am really happy. I had some not so good races recently but after today I’m feeling really comfortable again. It’s nice to know I am in good shape in slalom too,” Dopfer said.

Byggmark, who is on the comeback tour after a knee injury kept him out of competition last season, moved from fifth after the first run to finish on a World Cup podium for the first time since 2011 in Levi, Finland. He crossed the finish line with a small advantage of 0.10 seconds over then-leader Henrik Kristoffersen. The Norwegian who won the opening slalom in Levi made a big jump from 14th after run one to finish fourth on the day.

“It feels fantastic to be back, it’s tough recovering from an injury and you spend a lot of time thinking, but you still never know how things will turn out,” said Byggmark of his return. “I still had some pain in my knee this year so today’s result is simply great and it shows that the decisions I have made over the past year have paid off.”

Despite the soft snow, the time gap from one to 30 was only 2.67 seconds after run one, allowing for a lot of movement in the placing after run two. No one took more advantage of that opportunity than the first skier out of the gate, Victor Muffat-Jeandet, who had the fastest second run time and moved all the way up to 12th place overall. Other notable finishes came from Alexis Pinturault in fifth for his first finish in slalom this season and Marcel Hirscher in seventh

Hirscher did not appear to have the same intensity or precision to his skiing as seen in the technical events of late. He struggled to find the rhythm of the course in the tight first run set by his coach Michael Pircher and sat 11th heading into the second. Most expected that he would make a strong move on run two, but he was thrown around by the ruts and was unable to take the lead away from Kristoffersen at the time, ultimately moving up four spots to salvage seventh.

It was a day that belonged to Neureuther, who has now finished on the podium in all three slaloms contested this season. He was runner-up to Hirscher on this same hill two years ago, but tonight his victory was not to be denied, no matter how challenging the snow proved to be.

“I just wanted to ski smooth, that was my master plan and it worked pretty good,” said Neureuther of his second run. “It was rough, some gates were not easy, but the light was really good and you could see all the bumps.”

It was a rough day for the Americans. Only Ted Ligety qualified for a second run in 20th, but ran into trouble part way down the steep pitch and straddled the opening gate of a hairpin on run two and skied out. His limited slalom training due to his wrist injury has shown with his lack consistency in the last two slaloms, but in both races he has shown promising speed.

“I was happy with Ted’s pitch second run, he seemed lined up better and was releasing earlier,” said coach Adam Cole. “It is hard to make it down two World Cup runs in a row, sometimes, without a lot of training, but we’re happy he was able to ski these slaloms with his wrist.”

Of the remaining Americans, only two were able to find the finish line, but Nolan Kasper and AJ Ginnis — making his World Cup debut — did not qualify for the second run. Michael Ankeny and David Chodounsky had promising starts to their runs, but ran into trouble on the pitch and skied out. Will Brandenburg and Mark Engel were also DNFs on the day.

The men’s World Cup returns to action after a short Christmas break in on Dec. 28th with a downhill in Santa Caterina, Italy.

The Scoop 

By Hank McKee

1. Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
2. Dopfer, Nordica/Nordica/
3. Byggmark, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
4. Kristoffersen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5. Pinturault, Head/Head/Head
6. Baeck, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7. Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8. Khoroshilov, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9. Grange, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10. Myhrer, Head/Head/Head

Men’s World Cup slalom, Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, Dec. 22, 2014:

• It is the 13^th race of the men’s 36 race World Cup schedule, with one cancellation. … It is the third of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the 55^th World Cup hosted at Madonna … the 35^th slalom. The defending champion – Marcel Hirscher – won the last slalom contested at the site Dec. 18, 2012. … It is the first night slalom of the season … And the final pre-Christmas race.
• 53 of 70 starters completed the first run. … Winning margin is .82. … Top four are within same second … top 15 within two seconds.
• It is the tenth career World Cup win for Felix Neureuther … his eighth in slalom. … It is his first win at Madonna di Campiglio, though he was second in 2012. … Neureuther ties his dad Christian for fourth on the all-time German team list for slalom wins. … Second best among German men, one behind Armin Bittner.
• It is the sixth career World Cup podium for Fritz Dopfer. … It is the fourth time he has finished second in a World Cup race.
• It is the eighth World Cup podium for Jens Byggmark, his second since 2008.
• Seventh is the second worst finish in a World Cup slalom for Marcel Hirscher since 2011.
• There were no North American finishers.
• Kjetil Jansrud (did not race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 610-576 for Hirscher (seventh in race). … Alexis Pinturault (fifth in race) holds third overall with 349pts. … Ted Ligety (2^nd run DNF) is sixth with 326pts. … Manuel lOsborne-Paradis (did not race) is in 18^th with 153pts.
• Neureuther jumps to the lead of the slalom standings 240-216 over Hirscher. … Dopfer is third with 156pts. … Julien Cousineau leads Canadians in the slalom standings in 29^th with 15pts. … Dave Chodounsky leads U.S. skiers in 30^th with 14pts.
• Austria continues to lead the men’s Nations Cup standings 1886-1267 pver France. … Italy is third with 1166pts. … The US men are sixth with 828pts and Canada ninth at 384pts.

Results