Clément Noël celebrates his fourth win of the season in the World Cup slalom in Kitzbühel. The Frenchman comes out on top ahead of Alex Vinatzer and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who is competing for Brazil. Tanguy Nef and Daniel Yule finish 7th and 11th, Loïc Meillard is eliminated.
Noël, who has already won the slaloms in Levi, Gurgl and Adelboden this winter and triumphed in Kitzbühel six years ago, moved from 3rd place to the top in the second run, nine hundredths ahead of Vinatzer from South Tyrol. The 27-year-old thus regained the lead in the discipline ranking from Henrik Kristoffersen.
Tanguy Nef and Daniel Yule, who were within sight of the podium in fifth and seventh place at the halfway stage, slipped back a little in the afternoon - with Nef just 25 hundredths short of his first career podium finish and Yule just 14 hundredths behind his team-mate.
Nevertheless, Yule was clearly annoyed in the finish area. "Too little risk, too few balls," says the 31-year-old in the SRF interview about the loss of time in the lower section of the course. "I gave far too much of a margin. Then I was so slow that I almost crashed on the inside ski. Very, very frustrating - but at least I know what the problem is."
Meillard and the Norwegian trio are eliminated
Loïc Meillard was eliminated, as were the recently strong Norwegians Henrik Kristoffersen, Timon Haugan and Atle Lie McGrath. Kristoffersen fouled in the first run, Haugan stumbled as the half-time leader, Wengen winner McGrath slid off on the icy piste in the afternoon after finishing in 10th place. After the triple victory in the Bernese Oberland, only Alexander Steen Olsen made it into the points in 26th place.
Meillard made a time-consuming mistake on the first run. As in Wengen, he launched an attack from 24th place in the afternoon. But unlike in his home race, where he had improved from the same position to 5th place with the best run time, this time the man from Neuchâtel faltered. The third best Swiss skier was Marc Rochat in 20th place, followed by Ramon Zenhäusern (23rd).
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