The red number of leader of the Slalom World Championship will continue on his shoulders. Clément Noël achieved his second success in two races this season, on Sunday, November 24, in Gurgl, Austria. Already a winner in Levi (Finland) on November 17, the 27-year-old French skier was able to rely on a successful first start late in the morning to achieve his twelfth victory in the World Cup.
Clément Noël beat the Swede Kristoffer Jakobsen by 43 hundredths and the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath by 44 hundredths. His compatriot Steven Amiez, already sixth in Levi last week, once again achieved the best result of his career in the World Championship, taking fourth place, 60 hundredths behind.
“It is very, very important to achieve victories.said Clément Noël, at the organization’s microphone. We always want to be fast and win in every race. I am very happy. The second round was a great fight. I was confident before leaving but I made some mistakes that scared me a little. Fortunately, I had a good lead over my pursuers. »
The Vosges skier only managed the twentieth time in the second part of the race, although marked by his coach, after winning with almost a second advantage over his runner-up of the morning.
In search of the little slalom balloon
Clément Noël perfectly set out to conquer the small world of slalom, undoubtedly the discipline with the largest number of competitors capable of winning. He had failed, by one place, to win this award three years in a row, in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
This second consecutive success guarantees him a comfortable lead at the top of the World Cup rankings in this discipline, with 200 points, ahead of the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen (120 points) and the Swiss Loïc Meillard (105 points). Steven Amiez is fifth in the ranking, with 90 units.
Instead, for the third time in three races this winter (after the Solden giant and the Levi slalom), the Austrian Manuel Feller, winner of the balloon slalom in March, went off the track during the first lap. A zero point similar to the one achieved by Marcel Hirscher. The six-time slalom globe winner (between 2013 and 2019) also made a mistake at the end of the morning when he had already finished far from the best in his return among the Levi classics after five years away from skiing. tracks (46my).
