France's Clement Noel racked up his fourth World Cup victory of the season when he held his nerve to win the Kitzbuehel slalom on Sunday.

Noel, who also won in the Austrian resort in 2019, had been fourth fastest in the first run in pouring rain down the Ganslern piste.

He safely negotiated the second run to clock a winning combined time of 1min 41.49sec.

Italy's Alex Vinatzer was second, at 0.09sec, with Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen rounding out the podium, a further 0.10sec adrift.

"It was important for me, I'm really happy to win here. The last time was in 2019 so it's been six years," said Noel, who collected a winner's cheque of 100,000 euros ($104,800).

"It was a crazy race. Now I feel like I'm at 100 percent for sure. It's my best season, I hope to continue like this and enjoy it.

"My biggest goal of the season is the world championships, but just behind is Kitzbuehel."

The victory was the reigning Olympic slalom champion's 14th on the World Cup circuit, all coming in the slalom, the most technical of all disciplines.

The 27-year-old Frenchman also leapfrogged Henrik Kristoffersen to take the lead in the slalom standings, on 464 points, 29 ahead of the Norwegian.

Atle Lie McGrath led a Norwegian 1-2-3 in the Wengen slalom last week alongside Timon Haugan and Kristoffersen.

Fortunes changed in Kitzbuehel, however, with Kristoffersen skiing out high up the course on the first run.

Haugan had led after the first leg in Kitzbuehel, with the top 13 all within one second, meaning the slightest mistake would prove costly.

And so it proved as Haugan slid out just moments after his coaches had screamed "Come on, full gas!" at him as he exited the start hut.

In a day to forget for the Norwegian team, McGrath also failed to finish.

- Amiez freezes -

Sweden’s Kristoffer Jakobsen, 16th fastest in the first run, laid down the fastest second run, in 49.25sec, to take a convincing lead atop the provisional results.

That lasted until Vinatzer took control despite being pushed back on his heels transitioning from the last off-camber turn into the finish area.

A composed Noel, fluid and rhythmic, snatched the lead by 0.09sec, with just the top three to come down the increasingly rutted course.

Braathen came down just two-hundredths off Vinatzer, before France's Steven Amiez -– second in the first run –- made a huge mistake to kiss goodbye to his chances of a first-ever podium placing.

Then came Haugan's short-lived second run charge to leave Noel jumping for joy in the finish area under the unrelenting Austrian rain.

There was also a disappointing show from the Austrian team, just days away from their country hosting the February 4-16 world championships in Saalbach.

Michael Matt, who won world silver in 2019 and a bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, failed to make it down the first run.

That left Marco Schwarz, Manuel Feller and Fabio Gstrein to compete for the podium in the second leg. Feller was a ‘DNF’, Schwarz posting the best result in sixth, with Gstrein in eighth.

The overall standings saw little change as not only Kristoffersen, but also his closest competing rivals, Swiss Loic Meillard and McGrath, both skied out.

Kristoffersen remains 372pts down on leader Marco Odermatt, the Swiss racer having won Friday's super-G here to consolidate his place atop the standings, on 1,006pts.

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