French flier Noel aces 'Ice River'

Clement Noel produced a sensational second run to conquer "the Ice River "course in Yanqing on Wednesday and win France's first Alpine skiing gold medal of Beijing 2022.

The 24-year-old was sixth heading into the second run, but clocked an incredible 49.79 sec to finish with a winning total of 1:44.09.

Austrian Johannes Strolz, who had won gold in the Alpine combined event in Beijing, took silver 0.61 sec behind, while Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag was 0.70 sec back to claim bronze.

"That was one of the most important races of my career. It's not often that you are able to win a medal in the Olympic Games. It's one shot-one minute and 40 seconds every four years," said Noel, who made his Olympic debut at Pyeongchang 2018 when he finished fourth in slalom.

"I knew that I was in shape. My races in January were not good but training here was really good, I was fast. This is the best I can do. I have no words to describe it."

Noel told media that before the race started, his family and girlfriend were far more stressed than he was.

"They woke up really early to see me (on TV), to be behind me. I think they were really stressed, my girlfriend was more stressed than me. She couldn't sleep," Noel added.

Strolz, who the Adelboden World Cup slalom in January, led after the first run, and the 29-year-old had no regrets about his efforts.

"It was really good today. The first run was very good, I found the limit. Some minor mistakes but all in all a very good run," said Strolz.

"I tried to be aggressive in the second run too, I really tried to go for it. Now the silver medal, it's totally crazy. I am so happy with it, especially with this slalom season, so many guys are skiing fast right now in slalom. To share the podium with Clement and Sebastian is amazing."

Strolz credited his team, family and friends as key reasons for his impressive gold and silver haul at the Games.

"It means a lot to them. They know how hard I worked for this. A big part of those two medals belongs to them too because they always supported me, they always believed in me," Strolz added.

"With family and friends like that it is easier to get things done. If you have to do everything alone it's almost impossible, but with that background and that support magical things can happen."