LEVI, Finland (AP) — Olympic champion Clement Noel posted the fastest time in the opening run of the first men’s World Cup slalom of the season on Sunday, and record eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher failed to qualify for the second run.
Noel overcame what looked like a costly mistake when he had to brake in the steep middle section of the Levi Black course and edged out Swiss allrounder Loic Meillard by 0.02 seconds.
Noel's French teammate Steven Amiez was 0.21 behind in third.
“It was tough, the snow is difficult — sometimes there’s grip, sometimes no grip,” Noel said. “I hope I can do a better second run, I had quite a few mistakes in the first."
Noel is seeking his 11th career World Cup win and first since triumphing at a night race in Austria in January 2023 — his sole victory since winning Olympic gold in Beijing.
Meillard, who missed the season-opening giant slalom three weeks ago after tweaking his back during warmups, was the runner-up to Swiss teammate Marco Odermatt in the overall standings last season.
Odermatt does not compete in slaloms.
Manuel Feller, the defending World Cup slalom champion, had 1.18 second to make up in the second run later Sunday.
Hirscher, a three-time winner in Levi, finished 2.59 off the lead and outside the top 30 in his first slalom race in 2,072 days.
The Austrian great, now starting for the Netherlands, returned to World Cup racing this season after his retirement in 2019.
“The first gates I thought that’s going nicely but then it relatively quickly turned into one of the worst slalom runs of my life,” Hirscher said.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, another racer coming back and starting for Brazil since leaving the Norwegian federation a year ago, started 33rd but finished 0.86 behind in 10th.
Finnish skier Eduard Hallberg, wearing bib 40, pleased the home crowd by posting the eighth-fastest time, six tenths behind leader Noel, in only his fourth race at the World Cup level.
While Levi is an annual stop on the women’s World Cup circuit, with Mikaela Shiffrin winning on Saturday, the men had not raced in Finnish Lapland since 2019.
Switzerland's Loic Meillard speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Brazil' Lucas Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Netherland's Marcel Hirscher speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
France's Clement Noel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest over the past months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.
The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine's power generation capacity ahead of the cold winter.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.
Ukrainian defenses shot down 140 air targets, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children," Zelenskyy said.
Two others were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, said local Gov. Oleh Kiper.
The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration Serhii Popko.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs.
Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including in capital Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports.
The operational command of Poland’s armed forces wrote on X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, have been mobilized in Polish airspace because of the “massive” Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine. The steps were aimed to provide safety in Poland's border areas, it said.
One person was injured after the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in Kyiv’s historic center, according to Popko.
A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK was “seriously damaged,” the company said.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian rocket attack in Lviv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian rocket attack in Lviv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest , Hungary, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
