One knit, one purl. After a mastered first run and finished with the best time, Clément Noël failed to finish the second run of the Chamonix slalom (Haute-Savoie), Saturday February 4, counting for the World Cup. Having made a mistake, he yielded victory to the Swiss Ramon Zenhäusern, victorious ahead of the Greek AJ Ginnis – author of his first podium thanks to a rise of 23 places – and his compatriot Daniel Yule.
Two days before the opening of the Courchevel-Méribel world championships, the Vosgien can still feed some grounds for hope for the French stage, which he had already won in 2020 and 2021. “It’s not easy, you go from everything to nothing when you lead the first round in front of the French public, he regretted, after his mistake, on The L’Equipe channel. It’s hard to swallow here in France. I had good skiing today, not everything to throw away, but it’s disappointing. In two days, I will be able to come out of the positive [de cette course]. There were really good things. »
In the wake of his first victory this year, obtained in Schladming (Austria), on January 24, the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline got the day off to a perfect start thanks to a first run that ended in the lead with, respectively, fifteen and ten- seven hundredths of a second on his pursuers.
???????? What a first round for Clément Noël in Chamonix! The Vosgien sets fire to the Haute-Savoie resort and breaks in… https://t.co/UuJL4rIKLx
Aggressive from the top of the route on “la Verte” in Les Houches, a town bordering Chamonix, it came close to a fault in the first part before being faster than the competition at the end of the route. “It’s quite a good run, there was a way to do even better, but we’re largely going to be satisfied with that, he analyzed at the microphone of The chain L’Equipe. The bulk of the work is to be done second [manche]. »
Fourth retirement of the season
The pressure was high for the native of Remiremont (Vosges), the last skier – and only tricolor – to start in the second run. In the rhythm on the top of the course, he quickly made an inside fault before straddling a few stakes lower, synonymous with abandonment. “It’s a basic technical fault”he mused after the finish.
Eighth in the slalom World Cup after eight events out of ten, Clément Noël fell back into his failings at the start of the season. This is already his fourth retirement after the three faults that occurred during the first four races. Before returning to success at night at Schaldming, he had struggled at Wengen (6e), en Suisse, and Kitzbühel (8e), in Austria.
The only tricolor winner this season in the World Cup, the skier from Val d’Isère remains despite everything one of the best chances of a French medal at the world championships in Courchevel-Méribel, whose slalom is scheduled for the close on February 19.