Results---WC 2/25/7 men

[Ski]

World champion Mario Matt spoiled the hopes of German home-fans pipping Felix Neureuther to win Garmisch's slalom on Sunday. Neureuther still delighted a roaring German crowd with a second-place showing in front of Olympic champion Benjamin Raich.

 

The Austrian Matt put down two classy runs on a steep and difficult course to claim victory in a time of one minute and 33.66 seconds.

 

The 27-year-old added to his slalom gold at the world championships in Are last week, holding on to his first-leg lead to beat Neureuther into second.

 

"I saw Felix had a really good run on the television monitor and I knew I'd have to go all out to win," said Matt. "It was an extremely difficult course, especially at the top."

 

Austria's Raich had an excellent second run on the Gudiberg to move up from seventh to finish third in 1:36.97.

 

World Cup slalom leader Jens Byggmark of Sweden had a pair of nervous runs and was 12th, 3.01 seconds behind Matt. Raich held on to second in the slalom standings with 425 points, just five ahead of Matt, who got his sixth straight World Cup podium.

 

It was also the sixth World Cup slalom victory for Matt, a trained carpenter born just south of the border in Austria, and his seventh overall World Cup win.

 

Matt was in a league of his own with two outstanding runs in good conditions on the slope set up next to the 1936 Olympic ski jumping tower.

 

The snow on the challenging, 57-gate slope had been imported from Austria last week to make the race on the otherwise brown hill possible.

 

"Everything's fitting together nicely now," said Matt, sometimes called "Super Mario".

 

"I always seemed to have bad luck in the past. There was always something that didn't work right. This year, everything's falling into place. I'm feeling really good."

 

Neureuther was also second at Are after one leg before crashing out in the second leg. On Sunday he stayed on his feet in a nerve-racking second leg that gave long-suffering German Alpine skiing fans something to cheer about.

 

Neureuther, the son of former top skiers Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther, sent the big hometown crowd into a frenzy with his aggressive trademark style down a course that he has been skiing on since the age of six.

 

"It's special to race here," said Neureuther. "I know this course like the back of my hand."

 

Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, who was 20th, held on to the overall cup lead with 818 points, 53 ahead of Raich.

 

American former overall champion Bode Miller, who has completed only one slalom all season, crashed out of the first leg.

 

The men's World Cup moves to Slovenia next weekend for a slalom and giant slalom in Kranjska Gora.