France's Clement Noel runs away with men's slalom to claim gold in Beijing

French skier Clement Noel put down a blistering second run to win the slalom at the Beijing Olympics by a large margin on Wednesday.

Noel moved up from sixth following the first leg to beat first-run leader Johannes Strolz of Austria by 0.61 seconds after posting the fastest second run.

World champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag of Norway held his position and picked up the bronze, finishing 0.70 behind.

Erik Read, of Calgary, came into the men's slalom as a medal hopeful, but saw those hopes disappear after finishing the first run 1.98 seconds back of the lead, then held by Strolz.

On the second run, Read skied faster and saw negative intervals, until he got caught on his inside ski, throwing him off balance and off the pace en route to a 24th-place finish.

Noel finished fourth in the slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, while Strolz also won the gold medal in the alpine combined last week.

All nine of Noel's World Cup wins have come in slalom, including the opening race this season on home snow in Val d'Isere.

"That was one of the most important races in my career," Noel said. "It's not often that you are able to win a medal in the Olympic Games. It's one shot - one minute and 40 seconds every four years.

"I knew that I was in shape. My races in January were not good but training here was really good, I was fast. This is the best I can do. I have no words to describe it.

"Olympic champion ... wooh!"

WATCH | Clement Noel skis to Olympic slalom gold:

Quickly manoeuvring his large frame around the blue and red gates, Noel accelerated on the steep finishing pitch where most of the other skiers were more cautious.

The middle section of the Ice River course presented a challenge with a series of bumps, but Noel — who was wearing a shiny gold-coloured helmet — used his long legs as shock absorbers to remain smooth.

Henrik Kristoffersen was the only skier who came close to Noel's time at the final checkpoint, trailing by just 0.03, but the Norwegian veteran then lost his groove and finished fourth, 0.79 behind.

For the first run, the temperature at the top of the hill was minus 18.5 degrees Celsius (minus 1 degree Fahrenheit). The freezing conditions made for an icy and slippery slope that caused 34 of the 88 competitors not to finish the opening leg.

Shiffrin fastest in alpine combined downhill training

American Mikaela Shiffrin geared up for the Olympic Alpine combined by setting the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday.

The two-time Olympic champion so far has failed to win a medal at the Beijing Games, skiing out in the giant slalom and the slalom — the two events she has gold medals in — and finishing ninth in the super-G and 18th in Tuesday's downhill.

Next up is Thursday's combined race, which adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run.

Shiffrin is the world champion in combined and also won silver in the event at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

WATCH | Mikaela Shiffrin struggles early at Beijing 2022:

The 26-year-old is far less experienced in the downhill but finished Wednesday's training session 0.93 seconds ahead of Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.

"I mean, of course everyone thought Mikaela will have a medal until now but that shouldn't be a bad thing," said Holdener, who won bronze in the slalom last week to add to her silver in that event from PyeongChang.

"It shows that skiing is a really difficult sport. You have to perform each day, you don't know how the course is, how the slope is, so it's really difficult. I guess that's the reason."

Holdener also won bronze in the Alpine combined in Pyeongchang, behind Shiffrin and Swiss teammate Michelle Gisin.

Gisin finished one second behind Shiffrin on Wednesday, in fourth. Ester Ledecka was third, 0.94 behind Shiffrin.

Ledecka is attempting to win a second event at a second straight Olympics after successfully defending her gold in snowboarding's parallel giant slalom.

Only 14 skiers took part in the training session on Wednesday, with 12 of the skiers on the start list choosing to opt out.

The women's Olympic program reaches its conclusion on Wednesday with the combined, starting at 9:30 p.m. ET, before the mixed-team event on Friday at 10:00 p.m. ET.

All the action will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.