Clément Noël was circling around. Here he is at the top of the slalom podium this season. Second in Levi behind the Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro, runner-up to Atle Lie McGrath at Alta Badia, the Frenchman won the slalom at Madonna Di Campiglio, in Italy this Wednesday. A wonderful way to boost confidence one month before the launch of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. To make the success even more beautiful, he was accompanied by a compatriot on the box.
Until the end, Noël and Paco Rassat were suspended from the turns of Eduard Hallberg, but the Finn failed 12 hundredths behind the 2022 Olympic champion. He inserted himself between the two Tricolores, which did not erase the smile on Rassat’s face. The latter has already scored a second podium this season after his victory in Gurgl.
“Good signals”
Third at the end of the first round – with which he was not particularly satisfied – Noël went to look for his Finnish competitor. “I’ve had some ups and downs here, especially this last gate in 2021. There have been podiums but also some very bad results. It’s a relief, I haven’t won since Kitzbühel,” he said hotly on Eurosport.
This last Austrian success dates back to the end of January 2025. After five World Cup misses, he is second in the ranking of the small globe of his specialty behind the Norwegian Timon Haugan and ahead of Rassat, again.
“I am very happy to share this podium with Paco, who has been in great form since the start of winter,” explained the winner of the day. The team is really very strong. These are good signals for the month of January. At the start of the season, I was skiing well, I was improving in recent weeks, I knew the skiing was there, I had to show it in the race. » An excellent argument, too, to support his candidacy for the role of standard bearer of the French delegation during the opening ceremony of the Games.
Worth a look
