Published>Mon, Jan 25 10 12:09 AM
Germany's Felix Neureuther won his first World Cup victory on Sunday when he took the slalom at Kitzbuehel and emulated his father Christian, winner of the same race in 1979.
Neureuther won when Austria's Reinfried Herbst, the fastest man in the first leg, missed a gate when he was leading just over halfway down the second run.
To the despair of the home crowd, the Austrians, who failed to get on the podium for Saturday's downhill here, were again left without a top-three finish as Frenchman Julien Lizeroux took second place and Italy's Giuliano Razzoli was third.
Neureuther's previous best World Cup results were second-place finishes in slaloms at Garmisch and Alta Badia in 2007.
It was Germany's first World Cup men's win since 2005, when Alois Vogl won the slalom at Wengen, and was the first time a father and son had won at the same venue.
Neureuther can thank both his parents for his talent as his mother is Rosi Mittermaier, who was a double Olympic champion in Innsbruck in 1976.
"It's just unbelievable to get my first World Cup victory at a historic place like Kitzbuehel," the 25-year-old Neureuther told reporters. "It's hard to convey my emotions."
"I think I made a pretty smart race. Normally, I push too hard and make mistakes and go out. Today I was pushing at the right places and skiing smart at the right places."
With Austria still smarting from Saturday's failure, Herbst gave the crowd something to cheer about when he was fastest in the first run with a time of 48.54 seconds.
Neureuther, third in the first leg with 49.14, zoomed down the hill in 48.21 seconds on the second run to take the lead with a combined time of one minute 37.35.
Herbst, last to go, appeared set to give Austria their first win of the weekend when he passed the halfway mark with an advantage of nearly half a second over Neureuther.
However the Austrian lost his rhythm and skied out.
Former World Cup winner Bode Miller of the United States sat out the slalom after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche won the super-G here on Friday and Saturday's downhill.
Source: Web Search
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