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Germany's Neureuther wins Kitzbuehl slalom

KITZBUEHL, Austria, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Felix Neureuther of Germany won the men's World Cup slalom in Kitzbuehl Friday after first-run leader Marcel Hirscher straddled a gate on his second trip.

Neureuther rattled down the slippery, bumpy course the second time in 55.93 seconds for a combined-run time of 1 minute, 53.23 seconds, comfortably ahead of second-place Henrik Kristofferson of Norway.

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Neureuther had been hot on the heels of Hirscher after the first run but the German veteran, who leads in the men's overall World Cup standings, got hung up on a gate in the second run and finished 23rd.

"Everything about (the race) was tough; it was so bumpy and hard to ski on," Neureuther said. "I wanted to do a safe second run and luckily it was enough."

Patrick Thaler of Italy took third with a 1:54.05.

"I was a bit lucky with Hirscher skiing out," Thaler said. "He would have been ahead for sure but he went out and I didn't ... that's how thing go in this sport."

Ted Ligety was the top U.S. finisher, placing 15th with a 1:55.39. He nearly crashed near the bottom of the run, which was slick from a heavy, wet snowfall.

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