Overnight Wengen saw around 20 centremetres of snow fall, yet staff were able to ensure that racing was able to get underway.

Neureuther was last to set off during the first run, where challenging conditions saw him lying in fifth, but in the second run he attacked aggressively and was rewarded by putting down a flawless run to finish on the top of the podium.

"The first run wasn't really easy for me, with bib number seven I really had no idea what the conditions would be," said Neureuther, reflecting on the conditions which saw snow fall throughout the day.

"In the second run I just pushed really hard and it's an amazing feeling to win here for a second time in front of this crowd and on such a classic hill."

Last week's slalom winner Stefano Gross finished just 0.20sec further back, with young Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen third, 0.44 behind the winner.

The big surprise of the day was one of the favourites Marcel Hischer straddling a gate in the first run, ruining his chances of victory.

Stefano Gross backed up his first place last week with a second in Switzerland
©Getty Images



The runner up Gross remained philosophical after his second place, after very good performances in consecutive weeks.

"After all the problems with my back which I had at the beginning of the season it has now been a few weeks where I am feeling good again and I have found my feeling again," he said.

"I have been skiing well in training lately so these last two races have just confirmed to me that I could carry the speed well into a race as well.

"The steep sections of his this hill and today's conditions are good for me, today was very difficult but races are won in both nice and not so nice weather and I'm really happy I managed to do a great race."

Action continues in Wengen tomorrow with the downhill competition, while women's World Cup downhill action is also scheduled over the Italian border in Cortina d'Ampezzo, after competition was postponed today due to the conditions.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
January 2015: Gross tastes Alpine Skiing World Cup success for first time
January 2015: Hirscher increases FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup advantage with third successive giant slalom win