Happy Noel makes flying start to World Cup slalom

Olympic champion Clement Noel has dominated the first men's World Cup slalom of the season for his first victory in 22 months.

The Frenchman clocked a total time of 1 minute 53.98 seconds, beating Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen by 0.80 sec on Sunday. It was the 11th World Cup win for 2022 slalom Olympic champion Noël.

Kristoffersen, who was second at the World Cup season opener in Sölden, Austria, had the fastest time in the second run, but that was still not enough to beat Noël.

Third place went to Swiss Loïc Meillard. Slalom defending champion Manuel Feller was 15th in the first run, but was eliminated in the second attempt after a mistake shortly before the steep slope exit.

"It was a tough fight. Really, really happy about my second run," Noel said. "It was quite some good skiing, I think. I knew that Henrik set the bar high. In the pitch he skied really, really well. So, I just tried to push really hard because I knew it was tight."

Alpine ski great Marcel Hirscher missed the second run after posting only the 46th best time in his first attempt. Only the top 30 qualify for a second run.

Hirscher made his comeback to the sport in Sölden. He had retired in 2019 after winning the the overall World Cup eight times in succession and sealing two gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

While Levi is an annual stop on the women's World Cup circuit, with Mikaela Shiffrin winning on Saturday, the men had not raced in Finnish Lapland since 2019.

The World Cup returns to Austria for a women's and a men's slalom in Gurgl next weekend.