LEVI, Finland — Olympic gold medalist Clement Noel delivered an impressive performance in the opening run of the first men’s World Cup slalom of the season on Sunday, finishing with the fastest time. Meanwhile, the renowned eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher encountered difficulties and did not qualify for the second run.
Noel faced a challenging moment in the steep middle section of the Levi Black course, where he had to brake unexpectedly. Despite this setback, he managed to narrowly surpass Swiss skier Loic Meillard by a mere 0.02 seconds. French skier Steven Amiez rounded out the top three, finishing 0.21 seconds behind Noel.
“It was tough, the snow is difficult — sometimes there’s grip, sometimes no grip,” remarked Noel. He expressed hopes for a stronger second run, admitting he made several mistakes during his initial attempt.
Noel aims to achieve his 11th career World Cup victory, with his last win occurring during a night race in Austria in January 2023. That triumph was his only victory since claiming Olympic gold in Beijing. Meanwhile, Meillard, who missed the season’s opening giant slalom race due to a back injury sustained during warmups, finished as runner-up in the overall standings last season behind Swiss teammate Marco Odermatt, who does not participate in slalom events.
Defending World Cup slalom champion Manuel Feller now faces a 1.18-second deficit going into the second run scheduled later on Sunday. Hirscher, a three-time Levi winner, marked his return to competition by finishing 2.59 seconds behind the leader, failing to place in the top 30. This marked his first slalom race in over 2,000 days since retiring in 2019.
Reflecting on his run, Hirscher expressed disappointment, saying, “The first gates I thought that’s going nicely but then it relatively quickly turned into one of the worst slalom runs of my life.”
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who recently joined the Brazilian team after leaving Norway’s federation, started in 33rd place but made a strong comeback to finish 10th, just 0.86 seconds behind the leader. Finnish skier Eduard Hallberg, donning bib number 40, thrilled the home crowd by securing the eighth-fastest time, at six tenths behind Noel, in what was only his fourth World Cup race.
Levi traditionally hosts the women’s World Cup events, with Mikaela Shiffrin securing a victory the day before, but this marked the men’s first race in Finnish Lapland since 2019.