Forty-eight hours after Mathieu Faivre’s first World Cup podium, Nastasia Noens secured second place in the slalom at Crans-Montana (Switzerland). The end of winter is beautiful for the skiers from Nice.
Third time’s the charm! After a third place in Flachau (Austria) in January 2011 and in Bormio (Italy) in January 2014, the skier from the Inter Club de Nice achieved her third career podium and, most importantly, her best result in the World Cup. Nastasia Noens finished second in the slalom at Crans-Montana (Switzerland) behind the untouchable American Mikaela Shiffrin, who was making her comeback.
A second run that leaves its mark
Standing sixth after the first run, the skier from Nice was 79 hundredths behind Mikaela Shiffrin and 49 hundredths off the podium. These were gaps that were far from insurmountable three hours later. In the second run, the Inter Club de Nice skier posted the seventh fastest time and took advantage of an incredible collapse by the girls ranked between second and fifth in the first run. Noens completed the Swiss slalom in second place, less than half a second behind the winner, with a small cushion of 16 hundredths over fourth place. Enough to bring back the big smile of the 27-year-old skier.
Consistency
The skier from Nice achieved a sixth Top 10 finish in eight races and climbed to 7th place in the specialty classification, 33 points away from the Top 5. The podium, however, seems out of reach with a deficit of 135 points and two slaloms left to compete, the last being at the Saint-Moritz finals. The next World Cup race for the skier from Nice is on Sunday, March 6, in Jasna (Slovakia).
