Olympic champion Clement Noel wins slalom at Schladming World Cup
The Beijing 2022 gold medallist finished seventh and eighth in runs 1 and 2, respectively, but it was enough overall for the top spot
Alpine Skiing
Beijing 2022 Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel reigned supreme once again Tuesday (24 January) winning the slalom at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Schladming, Austria.
Competition in Schladming continues Wednesday (25 January) with a men's Giant Slalom race set to begin at 17:45 CET.
In Tuesday's men's slalom, Noel clocked a total time of 1:48.97 ahead of Switzerland's two-time Olympic champion Ramon Zenhaeusern (1:49.04) and Norway's Lucas Braathen (1:49.35).
Noel skied two solid runs, finishing seventh in the opening run at 54:96 and eighth in the second (54.01) which was enough to win.
In the day's opening run, Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen, winner of a silver medal at PyeongChang 2018 and a bronze at Sochi 2014, was fastest at 54.19, some .21 ahead of Manuel Feller. Feller won Team Parallel silver with his Austrian team at the Games in 2018. Switzerland's Loic Meillard was third at 54.49.
But all three fell away in the second run where Kristofferson was 23rd, Feller was 18th and Meillard was 19th.
Marco Odermatt holds a significant advantage in the overall Crystal Globe race, leading Norway's Aleksander Kilde by 225 points. Odermatt currently has 1186 points, followed by Kilde's 961. Kristoffersen is third at 734.
• France's Clement Noel skis to gold in Beijing 2022 Alpine men’s slalom *
2022/23 FIS Alpine World Cup, Schladming, men's slalom results
1. Clement Noel, FRA, 1:48.97
2. Ramon Zenhaeusern, SUI, 1:49.04
3. Lucas Braathen, NOR, 1:49.35
4. Manuel Feller, AUT, 1:49.42
5. Loic Meillard, SUI, 1:49.57
6. Atle Lie McGrath, NOR, 1:49.92
7. Kristoffer Jakobsen, SWE, 1:50.06
8. Alexander Steen Olsen, NOR, 1:50.13
9. Fabio Gstrein, AUT, 1:50.16
10. Timon Haugan, NOR, 1:50.20