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 Despite being hampered by lingering back problems, the
Garmisch-Partenkirchen skier earned his eighth successive podium
place in the discipline by upstaging German team mate Fritz Dopfer
by 0.82 seconds on the floodlit Italian course, one of the most
prestigious on the World Cup circuit.
In a combined time of one minute 40.57 seconds, Neureuther led a
German one-two ahead of Dopfer while Jens Byggmark was third for
Sweden on a piste which saw his compatriot Ingemar Stenmark clinch
the first of his 86 World Cup victories 40 years ago.
“It’s amazing. The last time we skied in Madonna, I came really
close after also winning the first leg. This time it worked out
really, really good for me,” said the 30-year-old.
 “To become the German with most World Cup wins does not really
matter to me. What matters is to be the most consistent slalom
specialist this season and to win the specialty’s World Cup,” added
the German, narrowly beaten for the slalom globe by Austria’s Marcel
Hirscher last season.
Two years ago, Neureuther had also been beaten by Hirscher in
Madonna but the three times World Cup winner, hampered by a cold,
was below par this time, finishing seventh after a poor first run.
“I was never in the right pace. I changed skis and boots between the
runs but the damage was done," Hirscher said.
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“During the Christmas break, I will train in slalom because I
focused on the giant slalom in the summer to try and bridge the gap
with (American Ted) Ligety possibly at the expense of my slalom
skills.”
The Austrian is now second in the slalom World Cup, 24 points behind
Neureuther. He is also second in the overall World Cup standings, 34
points behind Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud.
(Reporting by Patrick Lang, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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