Christmas comes early for Noel in Val d'Isere slalom

Noel laid down the fastest time in the first run and held nothing back in the second, clocking another lead time for a combined winning total of 1min 30.52sec.

His winning time was a massive 1.40sec ahead of Sweden's Kristoffer Jakobsen, with Croatian Filip Zubcic rounding out the podium at 1.85sec.

Switzerland's Daniel Yule finished just out of the top three, with Britain's Dave Ryding in fifth, 1.90sec back.

Italian Alex Vinatzer, second fastest after the first run, was disqualified from the second, while Swiss Tanguy Nef, fourth fastest, failed to finish his second leg.

Reigning overall champion Alexis Pinturault, second to current leader Marco Odermatt in Saturday's giant slalom, was left lamenting a "bad choice of kit" after failing to finish within the top 30 skiers in the first run who go on to have a second run to determine podium placings.

"It left it difficult for me to stay balanced on my skis and cost me that mistake at the end of the leg," he said.

"I'm very disappointed, I had the means to do better. But I can't dwell on that, I just need to use it to help me not to repeat that sort of mistake."

Swiss skier Odermatt, who skipped the slalom, now heads the overall standings with 446 points. Austrian speed specialist Matthias Mayer is second on 310 points.

Norway's Aleksandr Aamodt Kilde is third on 229, while Pinturault is fourth on 205.

© 2021 AFP