Clement Noel yesterday claimed France’s first Alpine skiing gold medal of the Beijing Winter Games when he won the men’s slalom.
Noel, sixth-fastest after the first run, laid down the quickest second run to clock a combined total of 1 minute, 44.09 seconds down the “Ice River” course in Yanqing in bitterly cold and sunny conditions.
Austria’s Johannes Strolz, already a gold medalist in the Alpine combined at these Games, took silver 0.61 seconds behind, while Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag claimed bronze at 0.70 seconds.
Photo: AFP
“That was one of the most important races in my career. It’s not often that you are able to win a medal in the Olympic Games,” 24-year-old Noel said. “It’s one shot — 1 minute and 40 seconds every four years.”
“I knew that I was in shape. My races in January were not good, but training here was really good — I was fast,” Noel said. “This is the best I can do. I have no words to describe it.”
Switzerland’s Daniel Yule, 13th-fastest in the first leg, set the pace, before Noel took the lead with just five racers remaining.
Photo: AP
Germany’s Linus Strasser and Switzerland’s Loic Meillard failed to upset Noel, leaving the top trio from the first run to battle each other.
First down was world champ Foss-Solevaag, the Norwegian paying the price for a mistake midway down the icy course.
His teammate Henrik Kristoffersen, a bronze medalist from the 2014 Sochi Games, pushed hard to increase his lead of 0.36 seconds, but he faded badly in the lower section.
Photo: AFP
All eyes then turned to Strolz, who was last year dropped from the national team and even worked as a traffic policeman to pay his way.
The Austrian held his nerve out of the start gate, but faded in the bottom half of the demanding hill and Noel raised a ski aloft in a nod to victory.
Taiwan’s Ho Ping-jui also competed in the men’s slalom, but crashed out of the first run.
FREESTYLE SKIING
Reuters, ZHANGJIAKOU, China
US freestyle skiers Alex Hall and Nicholas Goepper yesterday dominated the slopestyle final to win gold and silver at the Beijing Winter Games, throwing down inspired runs that stood out from the field.
Hall, who won the slopestyle contest at the Mammoth Mountain Grand Prix last month, led the pack from the start, earning a monster 90.01 score in his first run with a new trick that saw him stop a 1080 mid-air and rewind the last rotation by half a turn before planting the landing.
Afterward, Hall leaned over the barrier at the finish, looking exhausted and relieved by his high score.
“That last jump was definitely maybe my hardest trick,” the 23-year-old said, adding that he was “stoked” for landing it.
Compatriot Goepper, who won silver in the same event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games, took silver after losing momentum in his third and final run, and failing to best Hall.
However, Goepper, whose best run scored 86.48, said that he was happy to get on the podium with a run that felt unique to his skiing style.
The 27-year-old went his own way throughout the final, grinding on what he laughingly called the “shred shed” — a snowy replica of an ancient watch tower on the Great Wall-inspired course — and banking right on the last jump to hit a side takeoff unlike any of his rivals.
“This felt good to do it how we wanted to,” Goepper said, as he commended teammate Hall for his creative take on the course.
CURLING
Switzerland yesterday became the first team to secure a place in the women’s curling semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics, while Canada continued their playoff push with a crucial win over the US.
World champions Switzerland saw off South Korea’s “Garlic Girls” 8-4 to seal a spot in the last four ahead of their final round-robin game against Japan.
Switzerland top the standings with seven wins and one defeat.
Jennifer Jones led Canada to a scrappy 7-6 victory over Tabitha Peterson and the US for a third straight win. Canada are level with Japan, with a 4-3 record behind second-placed Sweden.
Jones said that she likes playing under pressure.
“If it was a guarantee, then it wouldn’t be as much fun,” she said. “For me, it’s always been fun. I’ve never played a game where I haven’t had a good time.”
Britain’s hopes of making the playoffs are in danger after their shock 8-4 loss to hosts China, leaving them to share fifth place with the US with one round-robin contest remaining.
Eve Muirhead’s team need to win their final match against the Russian Olympic Committee and hope other results go their way.
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