France's Noël leads 1st run of World Cup slalom in Madonna

Chasing his second consecutive World Cup slalom victory, France’s Clément Noël held a comfortable advantage following the first leg of the night race Wednesday on the steep Canalone Miramonti course.

Noël stood .53 seconds ahead of world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevåg of Norway and .70 ahead of Kristoffer Jakobsen of Sweden.

The 24-year-old Noël is attempting to become the first man to win the opening two slaloms of a season since eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher, who is now retired, accomplished the feat in 2018-19.

Noël claimed his first World Cup victory this season on home snow in Val d’Isère 10 days ago, then also won a second-tier Europa Cup race in Val di Fassa on Sunday.

Foss-Solevåg, who took gold at the worlds in Cortina d’Ampezzo, last season, finished second in this race a year ago.

Jakobsen is coming off a second-place finish in Val d’Isère that marked the first podium result of his career.

The short Canalone course features a “Muro” (wall) with a gradient of 65% midway down.

Austrians Marco Schwarz and Manuel Feller both failed to finish their runs.