Nothing better than the icy Austrian air of Schladming to boost your morale.
There, where he won for the last time, in January 2023, Clément Noël managed to bounce back, Wednesday evening, to take third place in the slalom won by the German Linus Strasser.
Disappointed after his exit from the track on Sunday in Kitzbühel, the Vosges rider had had a string of irregular results since the start of winter, between good performances (2nd at Madonna, 4th at Wengen and 3rd at Schladming) and exits from the slopes like at Adelboden or so in Kitzbuhel.
“It wasn’t easy for me after Kitzbühel,” confided the 2022 Olympic champion just after his race.
I didn't want to make the same mistake (…) so I'm happy to have gotten through it, to get to the bottom and make a podium.
It’s good for my confidence.”
He tries to be positive as much as possible: “I have to try to stop worrying about the results and do my skiing.
It's a beautiful evening.
Third is good.
Of course, it's not as good as last year but we don't care.
I'm on the right side of the hundredths, I'm lucky because I don't have a good second run (20th time).
It wasn't easy for me after Kitzbühel and I didn't want to make the same mistake.
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“I have to try to stop worrying about the results”
A few minutes after coming down from his second podium of the season, the Frenchman remained determined.
“It’s good for my confidence and I hope I can build on that going forward.”
It's always a bit of the same speech with me: one time I tell you that it's good for your confidence and the next time I tell you that I'm bad and that I'm going to stop everything.
There, I'm going to take advantage of this podium, it's not every day that you get a podium in Schladming.
I have to try to stop worrying about the results and do my skiing.
Today, I think I have a lot of margin under my feet.
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In a lively atmosphere despite the wind and rain, it was the German Linus Strasser, 31, who scored his fifth World Cup success and his second in three days.
Already in the lead after the first round, he resisted in the second round to finish ahead of the Norwegian Timon Haugan (+ 28 hundredths) and Clément Noël (+ 1 sec 02).
This is the second time that the German has won in this race which he had already won in 2022. At the finish, he was cheered by tens of thousands of wild Austrian spectators after a big week of festivities between the Kitzbühel races (two descents, a slalom) last week and those of Schladming with the giant on Tuesday evening and the slalom on Wednesday evening.