Olympic champion Noel dominates 1st run of World Cup slalom as many skiers fail to finish

GURGL, Austria (AP) — Olympic champion Clement Noel dominated the opening run of a men’s World Cup slalom Sunday, positioning himself for what would be his second win in two weeks.

The Frenchman had a flawless run down the Kirchenkar course to build a big lead of more than eight-tenths as many racers struggled on the icy steep.

Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath, who trailed by 0.88 seconds, and Noel’s French teammate Steven Amiez, who was 0.94 behind, were the only racers to finish less than a second off the lead.

“It was difficult for me as well. The feeling was tough, the snow is very icy,” said Noel, who won the season-opening slalom in Finland a week ago for his 11th World Cup victory but first in 22 months.

World champion Henrik Kristoffersen had 1.76 to make up in the second run later Sunday, while German skier Linus Strasser, who won the classic races in Kitzbuehel and Schladming last season, finished outside the top 30 and didn't qualify.

Slalom World Cup champion Manuel Feller was among the fastest starters but straddled a gate shortly after the first split time, a week after he also failed to finish the first race of the season.

Feller, who led an Austrian sweep of the podium in Gurgl last year, finished fifth or better in each slalom on his way to winning the discipline title.

Feller’s predecessor as the slalom season champion, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, and Austrian great Marcel Hirscher both straddled a gate midway through their runs as well.

Pinheiro Braathen returned to the circuit this season with two fourth-place finishes after a one-year break and a switch from the Norwegian to the Brazilian federation.

Hirscher is the record eight-time overall champion and six-time winner of the slalom globe. He came out of retirement after five years this season to start for the Netherlands. Last week he finished his opening run too far behind to qualify for the second.

Austria's Manuel Feller speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)

Netherland's Marcel Hirscher speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)

France's Clement Noel speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Giovanni Maria Pizzato)

France's Clement Noel starts an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Gurgl, Austria, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”

The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.

Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE.

Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment.

Early Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”

“Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.

Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and said that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.

Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for "their swift action." He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.

The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.

Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.

While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.

Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.

Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A man walks past Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store managed by the late Rabbi Zvi Kogan, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)