Noël opens slalom season with dominating win

VAL d’ISÈRE, France — French skier Clément Noël dominated the first slalom of the World Cup season Sunday for his ninth career win as many other pre-race favorites faltered, including his teammate and defending overall champion, Alexis Pinturault.

Noël defied challenging course conditions on the Face de Bellevarde as he posted the fastest time in both runs, finishing 1.40 seconds ahead of Kristoffer Jakobsen for the Swedish skier’s first career podium.

Filip Zubcic of Croatia was 1.85 behind in third.

“It’s amazing. Winning at home is something really different,” said Noël, who used to live in Val d’Isère.

“I already won in France but now it’s in Val d’Isère. I know so many people here, so it’s quite an emotional win,” he added.

While Noël skied a technically near-perfect first run, he called the second “a big fight.”

“It was an incredible day. This race was perfect,” he said.

Noël finished runner-up in the slalom standings in each of the past three seasons. He was the 2018 junior world champion, but has failed to win a medal at the World Championships or Olympics.

“It’s the best way to start the new season,” Noël said.

“For the first race, no one knows if we are fast or not fast, and the real truth is the race. So today I know that I can be fast and I have so much confidence for the future,” he added.

Alex Vinatzer, who trailed Noël by just .12 after the opening run, was disqualified in the second after the Italian lost his balance at the end of his run and passed the final gate on the wrong side.

Slalom world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevåg of Norway dropped from third to sixth position after he caught a bump and nearly skied out early in his second run.

Kristoffer Jakobson finished in second place.

Pinturault, a two-time winner of the event, went out after the first run.

The Frenchman was already a second off Noël’s time at the second check point of his opening run and lost additional time on a tricky passage near the bottom of the course to finish 2.90 behind, failing to make it into the top 30 who qualify for a second run.

Marco Schwarz, who won the slalom season title last year, also failed to qualify for the second run. Having missed weeks of training due to an ankle injury, the Austrian was 2.53 off the lead.

Austrian skier Adrian Pertl, last season’s World Championships silver medalist in slalom, missed the race a day after he injured his right knee in a giant slalom. The Austrian ski federation said Sunday that Pertl needs surgery for a torn ACL and damaged meniscus.

Marco Odermatt, who won Saturday’s GS but doesn’t compete in slalom, remained in the lead of the overall standings.

Winters scores in Val d’Isere slalom

Luke Winters skied into the FIS World Cup points in the first slalom race of the 2021-22 season, taking 25th in Val d’Isere, France.

Hard snow and sunshine made for great conditions in Val d’Isere and the up-and-coming U.S. men’s slalom team were stoked for some racing. “Dudes were fired up,” said Men’s World Cup Slalom Coach Ryan Wilson. “Everybody has been skiing well in training. It was nice that Jakobsen was second. We were training with him before and we know where we stand with him. That’s a confidence booster for all of them.”

American Jett Seymour skied well in his first run, but got tangled up in a complicated combination at the bottom and skied out just before the finish. Ben Ritchie went down on his hip, but had fast splits below the mistake, showing that he has it in him to also make a second run. Alex Leever and Garret Driller also started but did not qualify for a second run.

Winters had a couple of major bobbles on his first run, but had enough speed to ski into the top 30 and snag a second run. He skied conservatively second run to finish 25th, scoring World Cup points and lowering his bib number for future races. Winters also found the points twice last year, including a top 20 in Chamonix, France, and he knows he has more in him heading into the Olympic season.

The men’s tech team next heads to Italy for two giant slalom races in Alta Badia December 19-20 and a night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio on December 22.

RESULTS

The Associated Press and the US Ski Team press office contributed to this report.