Loïc Meillard is in contention for victory in the World Cup slalom in Levi after recovering from a back injury. After the first run, the Frenchman is in second place behind Frenchman Clément Noël.
Meillard only lost two hundredths of a second to the Olympic champion on the highly twisting course, after things had looked even better in the meantime. The French-Swiss racer passed the last intermediate time 18 hundredths ahead of Noël.
There was no sign of the disc problems that forced Meillard to miss the giant slalom in Sölden three weeks ago during his first competitive run of the winter. Meillard already felt that his health was back on track during the course of the week. On Friday, he finally decided to take part in Levi.
Surprisingly, Tanguy Nef is the second-best Swiss in the intermediate rankings. The man from Geneva, for whom things have rarely gone according to plan in the recent past, is in 6th place, 48 hundredths of a second behind. Nef already showed six years ago that the conditions suit him. Back then, he finished 11th in his World Cup debut.
The time difference between first and eighth is just 65 hundredths. Excitement is therefore guaranteed in the discipline in which practically every race in previous winters has been a spectacle. Behind Meillard, Noël's compatriot Steven Amiez, the German Linus Strasser and the Brit Dave Ryding lined up. Nef is followed by the Norwegian Alexandere Steen Olsen, winner of the giant slalom in Sölden, and the Croatian Samuel Kolega.
Daniel Yule and Ramon Zenhäusern are in 15th and 16th place in the intermediate rankings. They are directly behind the Austrian Manuel Feller, four-time slalom winner last winter and winner of the discipline World Cup. Luca Aerni was almost two and a half seconds behind, Marc Rochat was eliminated.
The slalom opener went differently for the two returnees. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen is in 9th place, Marcel Hirscher will probably miss the second run, a good two and a half seconds behind.
SDA
