'Absolutely incredible': Yule skis from last to first in historic triumph

Furious at himself after a huge error in the first run in Chamonix on Sunday, Daniel Yule (SUI) yelled in frustration in the finish area and thought his day was over.

Four hours later, Yule raised his arms in triumph as the first skier in history to come from 30th after the first run to win a men's World Cup slalom race.

Taking full advantage of a clean track as the last qualifier and first skier in the second run, Yule put down a target time that the following 29 skiers, all with an increasing advantage over him of up to nearly two seconds, could not surpass.

His second run was 0.64 seconds faster than anyone else in the field and gave him victory by 0.16 seconds over teammate Loic Meillard (SUI), with first-run leader Clement Noel (FRA, +0.18s) finishing third.

"Absolutely incredible," Yule said. "I've got to say I got really lucky staying 30th after the first run, but then I managed to ski an amazing second run.

"It was a long wait down here, but a nice one."

It was a victory that seemed impossible after Yule lost his outside ski several gates from home in the first run and almost straddled. He managed to stay on his feet but lost precious time and crossed the finish line 1.93 seconds behind Noel.

He then faced a nervous wait to even see if he would qualify for the second run, which he eventually did by just 0.05 seconds.

"I'd already packed my bags and I was ready to go back to the hotel but then I got an opportunity to ski the second run," Yule said.

"I thought, 'OK, it's warm weather, you have a perfect track,' so we can maybe go and fight for a top 10 or something, but I never dreamt about the win."

On a sunny day in Chamonix that softened the snow as the race went on, Yule put down a brilliant run in the best of the conditions, and then settled into the leader's chair and watched on as most skiers failed to even threaten his time.

"It was warm when the sun come out, the slope suffered a bit more in the second run," Yule admitted. "I was definitely lucky but also I took my chance. In a career sometimes you get lucky, other times I've been on the unlucky side.

"Today I really seized my opportunity and I'm glad it worked out like I did."

As the race came down to the top handful of skiers who had an advantage of well over a second over Yule from the first run, most of them lost a large chunk of that edge on the sunny top section and bled time all the way down the mountain.

The fifth-last of those skiers, Meillard, skied a smart, clean second run to move up three places and reach his first slalom podium in over a year, just missing what would have been his first World Cup slalom victory.

"It's close but at the end it was definitely a tough race for the guys at the front," Meillard said. "I kept telling myself, 'Keep moving, keep going forward' and it worked.

"Daniel took his chance and showed it was possible to come back."

Meillard showed that Yule's time could be challenged, but the next three skiers couldn't dislodge the Swiss leader before Noel faced the worst of the conditions on a rutted course and was over two seconds slower than Yule on the second run.

Like Yule after the first run, the Olympic slalom champion was visibly furious with himself after the second run but he eventually made peace with his third-place finish.

"I think that's one of my best races of the season so far," said Noel, who was bidding to become the first skier to win three World Cup slalom races in Chamonix. "It was really difficult at the end, it was really, really bumpy.

"But I think I had the possibility to win this race. I was really close, but that's how it is. I have to take this podium because it's still a really good race from my side."

But the day belonged to Yule, who broke the previous slalom record set by Lucas Braathen (NOR) when he came from 29th to win in Wengen two years ago.

And now that Yule has won a slalom from the 30th and last position after the first run, there's nowhere else for the record to go.

"This one might be tough to beat," Yule said with a smile.

Click here for full results from Sunday's race.