At the head at the end of the first round, the Frenchman went to the fault in the second round during the slalom disputed Saturday in the Haut-Savoyard station. The Worlds start on Monday in Courchevel and Méribel.
by Vincent Daheron
A stitch at the place, a knit upside down. After a controlled first round and finished with the best time, Clément Noël failed to finish the second round of the Chamonix slalom (Haute-Savoie), Saturday February 4, counting for the World Cup. Going to the fault, he gave in to the Swiss Ramon Zenhäusern, victorious in front of the Greek AJ Ginnis – author of his first podium thanks to a rise in 23 places – and his compatriot Daniel Yule.
Two days before the opening of the world championships in Courchevel-Méribel, the Vosgien can still feed some hopes for the French stage, which he had already won in 2020 and 2021. “C ‘is not easy, we go from everything to nothing when we are at the top of the first round in front of the French public, he regretted, after his error, on the channel L’Equipe. It’s hard to swallow, here in France . I did a good ski today, there is not everything to throw, but it is disappointing. In two days, I will be able to come out of the positive [of this race]. There was really good things. “
In the wake of his first victory this year, obtained in Schladming (Austria), on January 24, the title Olympic champion of the discipline launched his day perfectly thanks to a first round concluded with, respectively, fifteen and seventeen hundredths of a second on his pursuers.
🔥🙌 What first round of Clément Noël in Chamonix!
The Vosgien sets fire to the Haute-Savoie station and is… https://t.co/uujl4riklx
Aggressive from the top of the route on “La Green” des Houches, a commune bordering Chamonix, he came close to the fault in the first part before being faster than the competition at the end of the route. “It is rather a good round, there was a way to do even better, but we will largely be satisfied with that,” he analyzed at the microphone of the chain the team. The big of the job is to be done in the second [ ]. “
Fourth abandonment of the season
The pressure was strong for the native of Remiremont (Vosges), last skier – and only tricolor – to start in the second round. In the rhythm on the top of the course, he quickly made an interior fault before riding a few stakes lower, synonymous with abandonment. “It is a basic technical fault”, he rehashed after the arrival.
Eighth of the slalom World Cup after eight events out of ten, Clément Noël fell back into his crossing of the start of the season. It is already his fourth abandonment after the three faults occurred in the first four races. Before reconnecting with the nightly success in Schaldming, he had struggled in Wengen (6 e ), in Switzerland, and Kitzbühel (8 e ), in Austria.
The only tricolor winner this season in the World Cup, the Val d’Isère skier remains nevertheless one of the best chances of the French medal at the Courchevel-Méribel world championships, whose slalom is programmed at the end, the February 19.