With this title, acquired in particular thanks to a superb second round, the 24-year-old from Vosges brings France closer to its objective of 15 medals, since it now has 13 (4 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze), including almost half came from biathlon (6), especially thanks to Quentin Fillon Maillet (5).
Noël, sixth after the first run, was certainly among the favorites but it was difficult to predict the name of the winner as the discipline lacks a master this winter: the six slaloms contested in the World Cup had six different winners!
Moreover, the Austrian Johannes Strolz, Olympic champion in the combined and his runner-up in Yanqing, and the Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag, who complete the Olympic podium, had also tasted success this season.
“Magic” day for Clément
"It's a pretty magical feeling because it's the Olympics, a race every four years, and it's hard, in a discipline like ours, to be present on D-Day. It's a source of pride" , rejoiced the Frenchman.
Frenchman Clément Noël after the second slalom run of the Beijing Olympics, February 16, 2022 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP
Revealed in broad daylight by a surprise fourth place at the 2018 Olympics, Noël put his name on the men's Olympic list of the event alongside those of Jean-Claude Killy (1968) and Jean-Pierre Vidal (2002).
Like his 2022 Olympics, Alexis Pinturault was in difficulty, finishing in an anonymous 16th place more than 2 seconds before Christmas.
Serious contenders for a podium, the French biathletes have also gone through their test, the relay, without ever battling with the best.
Anaïs Bescond, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, individual silver medalist at the start of the Olympic Games, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon were initially accused of being late due to a faulty shot.
Beijing-2022: the thirteen French medals Kenan AUGEARD AFP
Les Bleues, finally sixth at 2 minutes 13 seconds from the lead, left Sweden, Russia and Germany on the podium in that order, while the big favorites Norway, led by Marte Olsbu Roiseland, were content with the fourth place.
A few hectometres away and while the great cold is still raging in Zhangjiakou, with temperatures around -20°C, French cross-country skiing believed in a miracle by qualifying its two relays for the women's and men's team sprint finals. .
But there was no miracle.
Mélissa Gal and Léna Quintin finished tenth and last in their race, far from the German champions, while Richard Jouve and Hugo Lapalus deceived before finishing seventh, leaving gold to Norway.
Day of respite for Valieva
In figure skating, the day allowed Russian Kamila Valieva, 15, to breathe a little and prepare for Thursday's free program, of which she is the huge favorite after the short program which she dominated on Tuesday.
No new revelation on Wednesday concerning his positive doping control on December 25, which does not however prevent him from participating in the Games, but the case has plagued these JO-2022 for a week and the announcement of his positive result.
Latest information to date, the New York Times said Tuesday that Valieva had two other substances in her body, in addition to the detected product, trimetazidine, which can be used to treat heart problems.
Russian Kamila Valieva during the short program of the Beijing Olympics, February 15, 2022 Manan VATSYAYANA AFP
According to documents presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Sunday, which the daily obtained, the Stockholm laboratory which examined the sample also found traces of hypoxene and L-Carnitine. , which are not on the list of prohibited substances.
American hockey players eliminated
On Monday, the teenager saw the lifting of her provisional suspension decided by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) confirmed by the CAS, without the latter pronouncing on the merits of the case.
Russian media reported that Valieva drank from the same glass as her grandfather, who takes trimetazidine for heart problems, while her mother cited arrhythmia problems to justify the other products.
In addition, the 2022 Olympics recorded their first positive doping control.
It concerns Ukrainian cross-country skier Valentyna Kaminska, whose sample revealed the presence of anabolic steroids and stimulants.
She took part in the individual sprint (70th), the 10 km classic style (79th) and took part in the 4X5 km relay in which Ukraine took 18th place.
In ice hockey, the Finns beat the Swiss 4-0 for the bronze medal before the United States-Canada duel for gold on Thursday.
The Americans were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Slovakia (3-2), like the Canadians by Sweden (2-0).
Defending champions Russia beat Denmark 3-1.
The latest semi-finalist is Finland, who beat Switzerland 5-1.
© 2022 AFP