Noel Trumps Hirscher in Kitzbuehel Slalom
KITZB?HEL, Austria (AFP) - France's Clement Noel followed up on his Wengen win to trump Austrian Marcel Hirscher with a stunning victory in the men's World Cup slalom in Kitzbuehel on Saturday.
Clement, who missed out on Olympic bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games by four-hundredths of a second, was sat in second place after the first run and held his nerve on the second descent of the Ganslern slope to clock a combined 1min 45.53sec.
It was the towering 21-year-old's second World Cup victory after his Wengen triumph last weekend and just his third podium after he finished second in Adelboden earlier this month.
Hirscher, ninth after the first run, finished second thanks to a storming second run, eventually 0.29sec adrift of Noel.
Another Frenchman, Alexis Pinturault, came in third (+0.36), 0.17sec ahead of Norway's defending champion Henrik Kristoffersen.
In snowy conditions, seven-time overall World Cup winner and current world slalom champion Hirscher, twice a winner in Kitzbuehel, looked to have snatched a third win with his superlative second run.
But in front of a huge crowd that included a cheering Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian bodybuilder/actor-cum-California governor, Noel belied his age and relative inexperience on the circuit down two testing tracks.
The last time a French skier won two consecutive races was in 2011 when double world champion Jean-Baptiste Grange, who tore knee ligaments in Wengen last week, claimed victories in Kitzbuehel and Schladming.
Hirscher consolidated his massive lead of the overall standings, in which he now has 1,116 points, with Kristoffersen in second on 671 and Pinturault third (620).
Switzerland's Ramon Zenhaeusern was the leader after the first run, 0.12sec ahead of Noel. But the Olympic silver medallist made a mistake halfway down his second run down the steeply-pitched Ganslern slope to finish sixth, 0.85sec adrift.
Another two-time winner on the hill, Germany's Felix Neureuther, was 11th (+1.94), while Sweden's Olympic champion Andre Myrher was seventh (+0.88).
Bulgarian Alexander Popov, like Noel just 21, did incredibly well to finish fifth on the first run after starting with the unlikely bib number of 71.
A couple of small errors on the second run, however, saw Popov slip down the rankings, the Bulgarian eventually finishing ninth, 1.05sec off Noel.
Racing will resume on Sunday when the skiers take to the Streif course for the super-G, scheduled to start at 1230 GMT.
**********France’s Clement Noel won the Slalom at Kitzbuehel
Clement, who missed out on Olympic bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games by four-hundredths of a second, was sat in second place after the first run and held his nerve on the second descent of the Ganslern slope to clock a combined 1min 45.53sec.
It was the towering 21-year-old's second World Cup victory after his Wengen triumph last weekend and just his third podium after he finished second in Adelboden earlier this month.
Hirscher, ninth after the first run, finished second thanks to a storming second run, eventually 0.29sec adrift of Noel.
Another Frenchman, Alexis Pinturault, came in third (+0.36), 0.17sec ahead of Norway's defending champion Henrik Kristoffersen.
In snowy conditions, seven-time overall World Cup winner and current world slalom champion Hirscher, twice a winner in Kitzbuehel, looked to have snatched a third win with his superlative second run.
But in front of a huge crowd that included a cheering Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian bodybuilder/actor-cum-California governor, Noel belied his age and relative inexperience on the circuit down two testing tracks.
The last time a French skier won two consecutive races was in 2011 when double world champion Jean-Baptiste Grange, who tore knee ligaments in Wengen last week, claimed victories in Kitzbuehel and Schladming.
Hirscher consolidated his massive lead of the overall standings, in which he now has 1,116 points, with Kristoffersen in second on 671 and Pinturault third (620).
Switzerland's Ramon Zenhaeusern was the leader after the first run, 0.12sec ahead of Noel. But the Olympic silver medallist made a mistake halfway down his second run down the steeply-pitched Ganslern slope to finish sixth, 0.85sec adrift.
Another two-time winner on the hill, Germany's Felix Neureuther, was 11th (+1.94), while Sweden's Olympic champion Andre Myrher was seventh (+0.88).
Bulgarian Alexander Popov, like Noel just 21, did incredibly well to finish fifth on the first run after starting with the unlikely bib number of 71.
A couple of small errors on the second run, however, saw Popov slip down the rankings, the Bulgarian eventually finishing ninth, 1.05sec off Noel.
Racing will resume on Sunday when the skiers take to the Streif course for the super-G, scheduled to start at 1230 GMT.
**********France’s Clement Noel won the Slalom at Kitzbuehel