A podium with a bitter taste!
Winner twice on the Verte des Ouches in 2020 and 2021, the 2022 Olympic champion Clément Noël took third place in the Chamonix slalom this Sunday.
This is his 23rd World Cup podium, the third this season.
But after dominating the first round by finishing ahead of the Norwegian Timon Haugan (+ 0″23) and the current leader of the World Cup in the specialty the Austrian, Manuel Feller (+ 0″40), the Vosges by 26 years could dream of another result.
Alas, like all the others before him, he stumbled on the reference time signed by Daniel Yule, finishing 18 hundredths behind.
“I was even on the verge of returning to the hotel”
The Swiss signed the craziest comeback in the history of skiing by winning the event even though he finished 30th and last qualifier in the first round!
Starting first on the second route, Yule took advantage of a perfect track before it deteriorated under the effect of the heat.
As a reminder, the two descents planned in Chamonix had been canceled due to lack of snow.
“It's absolutely incredible, I was very lucky (to advance to the second round) and I told myself I had to give it my all,” Yule said.
It was a long wait but I did it.
I never thought I could do it, I was even close to going back to the hotel but I had the opportunity to have a second chance in the second round.
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After his third place in the slalom in Schladming (Austria), at the end of January, and a checkered start to the season, Clément Noël is rediscovering his taste for the podium.
He is ahead of another Swiss, Loïc Meillard, second, 16 hundredths behind Yule.
The other Frenchman Steven Amiez, son of former slalom rider Sébastien Amiez, had a fifth top 20 in a row by finishing 9th (+0″43).