Heavy Rain Wipes out World Cup Slalom after 31 Starters with Olympic Champion Clement Noel Leading

Olympic champion Clement Noel - The AP
Olympic champion Clement Noel - The AP
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Heavy Rain Wipes out World Cup Slalom after 31 Starters with Olympic Champion Clement Noel Leading

Olympic champion Clement Noel - The AP
Olympic champion Clement Noel - The AP

Heavy rain forced the cancellation of a men's World Cup slalom Sunday after 31 starters in the opening run, with Olympic champion Clement Noel leading the race.

Organizers initially interrupted the event but then called it off as conditions failed to improve.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said the safety of the racers was at stake due to the “inconsistent conditions with visibility.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the race will be rescheduled. The next two slaloms take place in the United States — in Palisades Tahoe on Feb. 25 and in Aspen on March 3, The AP reported.

Wet snow in the morning hours and persistent rain during the race softened the top layer of the Tomba course, and the track visibly worsened with each racer starting.

No skier after the top eight managed to finish within two seconds of Noel’s lead, a massive time difference for a slalom race.

Noel started second and the Frenchman beat Timon Haugan by 0.27 seconds, although TV footage suggested that Noel straddled a gate about 17 seconds into his run.

“I don’t know, it’s the first time in my life that I don’t know. I don’t think so, but my run was good,” Noel told Austrian TV.

Haugan’s Norwegian teammate Henrik Kristoffersen was 0.38 behind in third, as no other racer finished within a second of the lead.

Manuel Feller, who leads the discipline standings after seven races, was 1.30 behind in fifth.

It was the second slalom this season that was cancelled because of poor weather, after a race in Val d'Isere, France had to be called off in December.

The men's World Cup continues in Norway with a downhill and super-G in Kvitfjell next weekend.

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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.