Felix Neureuther of Germany won the World Cup parallel slalom here on Friday in an event staged on an artificial slope to help promote Russia’s readiness to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange was second with American superstar Bode Miller taking third ahead of compatriot Ted Ligety in a competition held in the shadow of the Kremlin.

“I feel great,” Neureuther said. “It’s natural to feel great when you win.

“It was very interesting to compete on this artificial ramp. It’s completely different to a natural slope, but still a really challenging and interesting experience.”

The 24-year-old Neureuther defeated Bernard Vajdic of Slovenia in the opening round, Austria’s Mario Matt in the quarter-final and Ligety in the semis before beating FIS World Cup slalom section leader Grange in the deciding races.

Neureuther won the first leg of the final and finished even with the Frenchman in the second.

The referees decided to give the finalists the third deciding attempt but Grange missed his chance as he fell in the middle of the distance.

A special 200m artificial ski slope, with a 56m drop in height, was constructed within the campus of Moscow State University specially for the event.

The organisers however had to bring to Moscow a caravan of refrigerators with more than 3,000 cubic metres of natural snow from Siberia to provide the competitors with a top-class surface that fit strict FIS demands.

from: google.com

Two weeks after stunning spectators when he came from 65th to finish second in a downhill in Lake Louise, Switzerland’s Carlo Janka clinched his career first World Cup win during a giant slalom in Val d’Isere. The U.S. Ski Team’s Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) struggled under tough light and snow conditions to finish 12th.

The men’s giant slalom, along with the rest of this weekend’s alpine coverage, will be webcast on demand at UniversalSports.com.

Italy’s Massimiliano Blardone took second in the giant slalom and Gauthier De Tessieres of France was third.

According to Ligety, conditions on the course were desirable as the first six racers took their runs, but shifted after that to little light and a choppy course. For example, De Tessieres, 30th after the opening run, had the fastest second run going out first and nearly held on for the win, eventually taking a career best third.

“It’s tough when they start a race and the first six guys who go down get perfect conditions and then it gets blacked out and you can’t see anything. You couldn’t see the ground below you,” Ligety said. “Every single guy around me was just hacking their way down. I tried to go hard but it was just too hard to do when it was that bumpy.”

It has been nearly two years since Ligety, the reigning World Cup giant slalom champion, has finished outside the top 10.

“You have to ski well, as well, but the light really does make a big difference,” Ligety said. “It was hard to struggle your way down that with the light conditions the way they were.”

Reigning overall World Cup champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was the only other U.S. skier to make it down both runs, finishing 24th on the tricky course.

Men’s Alpine Head coach Sasha Rearick agreed that the conditions on Saturday’s hill were challenging, but said that Ligety did a great job..

“Today was a tremendous challenge,” Rearick said. “Ted was attacking the first run and made a mistake - his ski got caught up between the ice and the grippy snow. He made a fantastic recovery. To be in the top 10 after the first run was amazing.”

The men compete again in a slalom on Sunday in Val d’Isere, the site of the 2009 FIS World Championships this February.

“The guys are skiing slalom well. They’ve had good preparation,” Rearick said.

source: sportsnetwork.com