Neureuther dominates slalom in Italy

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