France's Noel wins slalom in rainy Chamonix

France's Noel wins slalom in rainy Chamonix

CHAMONIX, France (AFP) - France s Clement Noel held his nerve in rainy conditions to claim victory in Saturday s World Cup slalom in Chamonix, almost 12 months on from his last win, on the very same slope.

Third fastest in the opening leg, Noel clocked a winning aggregate of 1min 38.18sec over the two runs.

It was a seventh World Cup victory for the 23-year-old French racer, all having come in the slalom.

"It feels good. It was a great day," Noel said. "It wasn t a perfect day like last year when we had the sun, the hard snow and the crowd.

"This year, we don t have an audience, it s a bit different, but it s still a pretty great day because it s been a while since I last won."

Noel said the victory had lifted the weight off his shoulders, coming at a timely moment ahead of the February 8-22 world ski championships in Cortina d Ampezzo, Italy.

"Winning a race in the winter is at least what I wanted to do," he said.

"I would have liked there to have been more victories but what s gone is water under the bridge.

"In the last four races I ve finished second twice and once first. It s very, very good. I ll enjoy the moment before refocusing tomorrow on the world championships."

Pinturault consolidates lead

Switzerland s Ramon Zenhaeusern finished second, at 0.16sec, while Austrian Marco Schwarz, who was fastest in the first run, rounded out the podium, a further three-hundredths adrift.

Zenhaeusern s teammate Luca Aerni came close to causing a massive shock with a storming second run that saw him jump 25 places from 29th after the first run (+2.15) to fourth overall, just 0.47sec off Noel.

Alexis Pinturault consolidated his lead at the top of the overall World Cup standings, the Frenchman s eighth-placed finish netting him 32 points to take his season tally to 892pts.

Discipline leader Schwarz s podium finish saw him leapfrog Switzerland s Marco Odermatt (607) into second, on 626pts, in the general classification.

Pinturault said he was satisfied with coming away with a top-eight finish in tricky conditions, with heavy rain affecting visibility and the quality of the snow.

"It was fair enough, even if I made a mistake on the first run," said the Frenchman, a three-time Olympic medallist who is the reigning world combined champion.

"I didn t feel great this morning, I was in a bad mood. There are some days better than others, and today was a bad one."