Olympic ski champion Noel wins season's 1st World Cup slalom; Hirscher fails to qualify for 2nd run

LEVI, Finland (AP) — Olympic champion Clement Noel dominated the first men’s World Cup slalom of the season on Sunday for his first victory in 22 months.

The Frenchman protected his opening-run lead to beat Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway by 0.80 seconds. Swiss allrounder Loic Meillard placed third, 0.95 behind.

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen came fourth, missing by one tenth what would have been the first ever World Cup podium result in Alpine skiing for Brazil.

Record eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher, a three-time winner in Levi, failed to qualify for the second run in his first slalom since coming out of retirement after five years.

Noel overcame what looked like a costly mistake in his opening run when he had to brake in the steep middle section of the Levi Black course, but he put in a nearly error-free second run.

“It was a tough fight. Really, really happy about my second run,” Noel said. “It was quite some good skiing, I think. I knew that Henrik set the bar high. In the pitch he skied really, really well. So, I just tried to push really hard because I knew it was tight.”

It was Noel's 11th career World Cup win and first since triumphing at a night race in Austria in January 2023 — his only other victory since winning Olympic gold in Beijing.

Kristoffersen posted the fastest time in a frenetic final run that saw him rise from 11th position. The two-time slalom world champion was aiming for his first World Cup win since January 2023, and called his runner-up finish “100 per cent a step in the right direction.”

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, failed to score World Cup points. The Austrian finished 1.18 seconds off the lead in the opening run before straddling a gate in the second.

Feller was fifth or better in each slalom race last season.

Pinheiro Braathen, returning this season and starting for Brazil after leaving the Norwegian federation a year ago, started 33rd but worked his way up to fourth, matching his achievement in the season-opening GS.

“It's such a relief that I get these results in slalom and GS, I'm so grateful,” Pinheiro Braathen said. “It was really a tough race today, with this tricky ice, it was a brutal return to slalom.”

Hirscher finished the opening run 2.59 off the lead in 46th position 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.

American skier Benjamin Ritchie was fifth-fastest in the second run and finished the race in 13th, as the skier from Waitsfield, Vermont improved on his previous career-best result by seven places.

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.

The World Cup returns to Austria for a women's and a men's slalom in Gurgl next weekend.

The winner France's Clement Noel celebrates on podium with a young reindeer after an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen reacts after completing an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

From left, second placed Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen, the winner France's Clement Noel and third placed Switzerland's Loic Meillard celebrate on podium after an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

The winner France's Clement Noel celebrates on podium after an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

France's Clement Noel reacts after winning an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

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)

LONDON (AP) — The U.K.'s home secretary on Wednesday urged the head of one of the country's leading police forces to resign following a report on how fans from Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were banned from a match against Premier League side Aston Villa in Birmingham last year.

Shabana Mahmood told lawmakers that the independent report found “a failure of leadership” on the part of West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, adding that he "no longer has my confidence.”

The ban came at a time of heightened concerns about antisemitism in Britain following a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue and calls from Palestinians and their supporters for a sports boycott of Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza.

The decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match with Aston Villa on Nov. 6 was widely criticized, including by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

West Midlands Police said at the time it had deemed the match to be high risk “based on current intelligence and previous incidents,” including violence and hate crimes that took place when Maccabi played Ajax in Amsterdam last season.

Guildford did not immediately comment on the report Wednesday but West Midlands Police said “mistakes were made” without mentioning its chief constable.

Mahmood said the report by the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, found that West Midlands Police had overstated the threat posed by Maccabi fans while understating the potential risks to them, and “conducted little engagement with the Jewish community" before a decision was taken.

She said the report noted that "the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.” The report did not find the police force was antisemitic.

Mahmood also noted a police reference at the time to a nonexistent match between Maccabi and Premier League side West Ham in 2023, which was deemed to be an “AI hallucination.” Guildford previously denied that AI was to blame for that error but apologized for it Wednesday ahead of the report’s publication.

Mahmood said she didn't have the power to fire Guildford as a result of a policy change by the previous Conservative government in 2011, but she was looking to reinstate that power to home secretaries. Currently, locally elected police and crime commissioners have that power.

Simon Foster, the West Midlands commissioner, acknowledged the “significant strength of feeling” surrounding the controversy and said he would seek further answers from Guildford at a public meeting on Jan. 27 of his accountability and governance board.

FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, is reflected as Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks to members of the Jewish community at the Community Security Trust (CST) in north west London, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Carlos Jasso, Pool Photo via AP, file)

FILE - Maccabi Tel Aviv's fan is escorted by police ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Birmingham, England, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, file)