The French Olympic slalom champion Clément Noël achieved the best time on Sunday morning in the first round of the Levi slalom, in Finland, where the former king of the stakes Marcel Hirscher finished very far from the best for his resumption of the discipline.
Starting with the third bib, Noël crossed the line in 59 sec 67. He was ahead of the Swiss Loïc Meillard by two hundredths; another Frenchman, Steven Amiez, is third at 21 hundredths. Noël, 27, is thus launching his winter in Lapland perfectly after a mixed 2023-24 season, during which he failed to win even if he was often in the mix (four podiums). As for Amiez, at the age of 26, from the first slalom of the winter, he confirmed his rise in power already seen last season, where he was consistent around tenth place for the first time in his career. The morning did not go so well for former skiing glory Marcel Hirscher, back on the circuit at 35 and after five years of retirement.
The Austrian skier, who now races in the Dutch jersey, managed to qualify for the second round for his long-awaited return to Sölden three weeks ago (23rd in the giant). For his return to slalom, he finished very, very far from the best, finishing 2 sec 59 behind Clément Noël (provisional 45th place after 60 runs) and will attend as an observer the second round, the start of which is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
For his part, the Norwegian, now Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, also back in his favorite discipline after a year of absence, qualified without problem for the second round (10th at 86/100th).
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