Frenchman Noel overcomes 'bumps, lots of ruts' to prevail on home snow in slalom
Defeats Swiss skier Ramon Zenhaeusern for 7th career win, 1st in nearly a year
Clement Noel got his first World Cup win in a year on Saturday, triumphing on home snow in the penultimate slalom before the world championships.
The French skier won three slaloms in each of the last two seasons but had been waiting for another victory since prevailing in Chamonix in February.
Returning to the same course Saturday, Noel improved from third position after the opening leg as the top two lost time in similar mistakes halfway through their final runs.
On a course softened by persistent rain, first-run leader Marco Schwarz dropped to third, 0.19 seconds behind Noel, while Ramon Zenhaeusern remained in second and trailed by 0.16.
WATCH | Clement Noel earns 7th World Cup victory:
Schwarz had been fastest in a tight opening run, leading Zenhaeusern by 0.02 and Noel by 0.03.
"It was pretty difficult. There were lots of bumps, lots of ruts. I'm usually not so good in that type of condition," said Noel, adding he regretted his home race was without spectators amid anti-coronavirus measures.
"I'm just really, really happy to win this race today. It's sad we have nobody to celebrate this with us, but this was a cool moment."
Zenhaeusern Swiss teammate Luca Aerni posted the fastest time in the final run and climbed from 29th position to fourth.
2018 breakthrough season
The result marked Noel's seventh career win in his fifth season on the World Cup tour.
The French slalom specialist had his breakthrough in 2018 when he claimed gold at the junior worlds and finished fourth in the Olympic slalom, before starting to win on the top level at the iconic venues in Wengen and Kitzbuhel the following year.
His first win after nearly a year could hardly have come at a better moment, with the Feb. 8-21 worlds in Italy looming.
"It's really important, for sure," said Noel, who was looking forward to another slalom on Sunday.
"The last race before the world championships, you really want to be consistent, you really want to ski safe and fast."
Schwarz, who leads the discipline standings ahead of Sebastian Foss Solevaag of Norway, was on the podium in seven of this season's eight slaloms and remained the only skier to have won more than once.
His Austrian teammate Manuel Feller, who previously led the slalom standings, failed to finish for a second straight race. Feller earned his first career win in Flachau two weeks ago but has recorded a 17th place and two DNFs since.
Overall World Cup leader Alexis Pinturault finished 0.89 behind in eighth. Schwarz climbed to second place in the standings, trailing the Frenchman by 266 points.
Henrik Kristoffersen, who won the slalom season title for a second time last year, continued his disappointing campaign, skiing out after a few seconds into his opening run as the Norwegian straddled the second gate.
