France claimed its first alpine skiing gold medal of the Beijing Olympics Wednesday when Clement Noel won the men's slalom.
Noel, 24, was sixth fastest after the first run at Yanqing, but his second run gave him a combined total of 1min 44.09sec, allowing him to win by a large margin.
He beat Austrian Johannes Strolz, already a gold medalist in the alpine combined, by 0.61 seconds. Norwegian world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag claimed bronze.
"This was a perfect race today, maybe the most important in my career. It's very rare to be able win an Olympic medal. It's one shot, once every four years," said Noel, who finished fourth in the slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Noel’s is the fourth gold medal for France in the 2022 games, and the third alpine skiing medal. France has now won a total of 15 medals.
French athletes still have a shot at medals in three biathlon competitions, including the women’s 4x6km race on Wednesday, and the mass start races Friday and Saturday.
Bastien Midol et Terence Tchiknavorian could also bring home medals for France in the ski cross on Friday.
