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

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy (AP) — France’s Clément Noël holds a comfortable advantage following the first leg of the World Cup night slalom on the steep Canalone Miramonti course. He’s .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 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.