Noel conquers Kranjska Gora slalom

Like the Swiss men yesterday, the French men took the top two spots on the podium in the Audi FIS World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora (SLO).

Leading the way was Clement Noel, who turned in his third victory and fifth podium of the season. He finished 0.62 seconds ahead of teammate Victor Muffat Jeandet, who had his first podium performance in more than a year. Rounding out the podium was Ramon Zehnhaeusern 0.71 seconds behind. It was Zehnhaeusern’s third straight podium finish.

Conditions were difficult for the entire field as there was heavy wet snow creating tricky conditions throughout the entire day. The more successful racers tended to be those who were more prudent in the unstable conditions.

An example of taking the safe path was Marco Schwarz, while the Austrian didn’t turn in his best performance of the season, his conservative runs gave him an eighth-place finish, enough to clinch the small slalom globe. His 625 points sealed the title ahead of Zehnhaeusern, with 503 points.

Missing a massive opportunity today was Alexis Pinturault, who failed to gain any additional ground over Marco Odermatt in the hunt for the Overall Globe. Pinturualt holds a very slim 31-point lead heading into next week’s Season Finals, and could have gained many valuable points today. But ultimately the Frenchman skied over a gate in the second run and suffered the DNF fate, with zero points to show for his efforts today.

That set up a thrilling Season Finals in Lenzerheide with not only the Overall Glove on the line, but also the downhill, super-G and giant slalom globes still undecided as well. Add that to the three women’s globes that are also still up for grabs and it has the potential to be one of the most exciting and wide-open Season Finals in the last decade.

The athletes have already started arriving in Lenzerheide with downhill training Monday and Tuesday, followed by the downhill races on Wednesday kicking off the Globe giveaway week.