Clément Noël is truly the athlete of this start of the season. A week after his success in Levi, the Frenchman handed the compress to Gurgl to sign his 12th victory. The Olympic champion evolved with mastery over the terrible Kirchenkar. Demonstrating in the first round to relegate his opponents far away, he fully managed his second to win. “It’s very important to start the season like this. We always want to be fast. It was a fight today, especially in the second round, because I made mistakes and I experienced strange sensations,” commented the winner of the day on Charlotte Chable’s microphone at the end of the race.
The French skier is 43 hundredths ahead of the Swede Kristoffer Jakobsen, who is on his fourth podium, and the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath. Another Frenchman distinguished himself on the heights of Tyrol. Steven Amiez, who dreams of a first podium, came close to the feat by taking 4th place.
Loïc Meillard and Daniel Yule react in the second round
Steven Amiez finished just ahead of Loïc Meillard, ahead of him by just a hundredth. The Valaisan missed his first run, on which he only achieved the 14th fastest time. At the cost of a good comeback, after achieving the 2nd time in the round, the skier from Hérémence moved back into the top 5 only to fall 17 hundredths off the podium.
Completing two good rounds was the problem for Swiss skiers in Gurgl. Like Daniel Yule who reassured himself on the second route. After his 22nd place in Levi and a 21st on the first course here in Gurgl, the skier from Val Ferret managed to let go of the horses on the second, in snow conditions that he likes. By setting the 7th fastest time for his second pass, the Valaisan was able to move up a few places to just finish in the top 15 (13th).
Nave, Aerni and Zenhäusern behind
Very good 9th on the first course despite several small errors, Tanguy Nef did not experience the same success on the second. He even came close to being eliminated. The Genevan managed to stay on his skis to take 22nd place. Luca Aerni never found the rhythm on the steep and technical Kirchenkar track to finish 24th. Ramon Zenhäusern skied upside down all day on the wall. Haut-Valaisan (30th) can be happy to score a small point. He qualified in 30th and last place for the second round, just a hundredth behind the German Anton Tremmel.
At the start of the day, Marc Rochat suffered a second elimination in two slaloms. However, nothing to worry the Vaudois, despite this complicated start to winter from an accounting point of view.
Manuel Feller, the holder of the Crystal Globe, was also eliminated early. This is the third elimination in three races this season for the Austrian. The returning Luca Pinheiro Braathen and Marcel Hirscher experienced similar misfortune on the first route.
JT
