24.JAN.23 – Clement Noel and the french team. Photo: GEPA pictures

SCHLADMING, Austria — French skier Clément Noël won Tuesday’s Schladming night slalom for his first World Cup victory of the season.

Making up the remainder of the podium, Ramon Zenhäusern of Switzerland climbed from fifth to second, 0.07 seconds behind Noël, and Lucas Braathen finished 0.38 back in third.

The men’s World Cup has a new name added to the 2022-23 slalom winners list. Uniquely it is not a Norwegian or a Swiss athlete. The latest Schladming champion is the Frenchman Noël. He was seventh after the first run, so he had six excellent skiers remaining at the top when he crossed the finish line. Notably, before the final run, he was (+0.77) behind first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen.

After crossing with a (-1.09) lead over Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath, Noel took the leader’s chair and watched as all the leaders struggle to descend. No particular section challenged the front runners. However, racers were pushing beyond their ability and making big mistakes.

Racer after racer led on the course but then would make a significant mistake and fall behind. Swiss athlete Ramon Zenhaeusern came the closest. He finishes only (+0.07) off the top step. The current leader of the slalom standings, Lucas Braathen, skied immediately after Zenhaeusern and crossed in third, (+0.38) behind Noël.

“It’s one of the (most) emotional podiums in my career because I started in 25th position at the beginning of the season (in the rankings),” said Zenhaeusern.

Then the trio watched as Loic Meillard struggled, and Austria’s Manuel Feller did the same. That left Henrik Kristoffersen as the remaining athlete at the top of the course. However, the consistency machine, Kristoffersen, struggled and dropped to 11th place.

This is Noel’s second slalom podium of the season and Braathen’s 5th; however, it is Zenhaeusern’s first.

“That feels amazing, especially here in Schladming. It’s always incredible here in Schladming,” Noël said. “Today is a perfect day, a perfect race. And the atmosphere was incredible.”

Until today, Noel had failed to finish five of his 10 World Cup slalom races since winning Olympic gold in Beijing 11 months ago. He had just two podiums between then and now.

“It was tough the beginning of the season, that’s why it feels so special to win here tonight because I struggled a lot, with the confidence and everything,” Noel said, after jumping up from seventh after run one to finish ahead of another skier who had been struggling for form, Ramon Zenhaeusern.

“Lots of DNFs at the beginning of the season. I was not so fast. I was fast in training but not really in races so I was kind of wondering how I could get back to the top,” a delighted Noel added.

First-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen lost time following a big mistake in the steep middle section and dropped to 11th. Kristoffersen was eying a record fifth win at the annual night race.

Daniel Yule, who won in Kitzbuehel two days ago, was already 1.18 off the pace after the first run before the Swiss skier skied out in the second.

The result meant that Braathen extended his lead in the discipline standings over Kristoffersen to 41 points as the Norwegian duo remained 1-2 ahead of Yule.

Home favorite Manuel Feller was second after the opening run but finished 0.07 behind Braathen in fourth.

The Austrian led the slalom in Kitzbuehel two days ago but then failed to finish his final run.

There were a considerable number of second-run struggles. Because of that, USA’s Benjamin Ritchie took advantage of the situation and moved up seven positions to 23rd. He scored for the second time this season. The fastest North American was Canadian Erik Read, who ended the day in 18th place. Read has now scored in six of the seven slaloms contested in 2022-23.

Men’s slalom usually has a skier who starts early on the second run and holds the lead through many athletes. However, tonight the lead changes were fast and furious. That said, there were some big moves up the leaderboard. The biggest move was produced by the young Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen. He finished the first run in the 19th position but ended the race eighth. It is Steen Olsen’s best finish of the season.

Notably, Germany’s Sebastian Holzmann, 28th after the first run, skied well in the final and moved up 10 positions to finish 18th. Also, the Norwegians ended with three of the top 10. Austria’s Feller finished just off the podium in fourth but got a hero’s welcome by the crowd in the finish.

Analysis of fastest three, CAN, Erik Read and USA, Benjamin Ritchie and final results

Results from the Schladming night slalom January 24th

The Associated Press and FIS contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.