France's Olympic champion Clement Noel opens World Cup account

Madonna di Campiglio (Italy) (AFP) - Clement Noel won the floodlit slalom at Madonna di Campiglio on Wednesday, the Olympic champion’s first World Cup victory of the season.

Frenchman Noel clocked a combined time of one minute and 43.05 seconds over two runs down the Canalone Miramonti piste, 0.12sec ahead of Finland’s Eduard Hallberg who was fastest in the first run.

The 28-year-old’s countryman Paco Rassat claimed his second career podium, 0.37sec off the pace, thanks to the fastest time of the second run with 52.32sec.

“It’s really very cool. I’ve had ups and downs here in Madonna di Campiglio – sure, some podiums, but also some poor results. I hadn’t won since Kitzbuehel last winter, so it’s a relief to be back on top,” said Noel.

“It bodes well for the rest of January,” added the Frenchman ahead of upcoming tests in Adelboden, Wengen, Kitzbuehel and Schladming, ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Noel’s win put him just three points behind Timon Haugan in the World Cup slalom standings but both are way behind Marco Odermatt, who didn’t compete on Wednesday, in the overall classification.

Haugan is 455 points behind Odermatt in fifth place while Noel trails the Swiss reigning World Cup champion by a whopping 573 points.

World Cup slalom champion Henrik Kristoffersen is yet to win a race this season and finished 15th after a poor second run which left him 1.16sec behind Noel.

Kristoffersen is ninth in the slalom standings, 127 points behind Haugan.

Odermatt will return to action at the weekend as the men’s tour moves to Adelboden in Switzerland which will host a giant slalom on Saturday followed by a slalom the following day.

Noel will defend his Olympic slalom title at the Milan-Cortina Games which begin on February 6.