Daniel Yule, le héros inattendu du slalom à Chamonix

Despite the spring conditions, the slalom race can still go on. But everyone knows that the race will be heavily influenced by the heat and its impact on the quality of the snow and the condition of the track. This is already the case in the first round, where the top three racers started with bib numbers 2 (Frenchman Clément Noël), 7 (Norwegian Timon Haugan) and 1 (Austrian Manuel Feller). Bib 3, Loïc Meillard is in 5th place. Bib 5, Daniel Yule is…30th.

The Valaisan made a big mistake on the outer ski two-thirds of the way. While he managed to bring his left leg back just before the gate and finish the round, he accumulated nearly two seconds (1”93) behind Clément Noël. However, by five hundredths of a second, he still qualifies among the top 30 for the second round. “I really thought I was going to experience the end of the race in the hotel,” he would later say. It would have been a shame…

The last shall be first, promises the Gospels. In alpine skiing, this is true at least for the starts, as the competitors start the second round in reverse order of the rankings in the first round. The track is in full sunshine, southwest exposure, and no one in the audience is wearing gloves or a hat. Scheduled for 12:30, the start was given ten minutes late, which may turn into a few hundredths more in favor of Daniel Yule. The skier from Champex – “40 km away as the crow flies, just on the other side” – starts first. This time, it’s clean all the way to the end. “I was satisfied, it was a beautiful round.” Right behind him, the Austrian Joshua Sturm finishes almost a second behind. “Now, I had the confirmation that I had skied very well,” says Yule.

On salted snow

After his round, the Valaisan literally took the leader’s seat. The rules dictate that he must remain there, monitored by a camera that watches his reactions as his competitors pass, until he is dislodged, again literally. And the opponents pass and Yule begins to think that he should have remembered to apply sunscreen. A first dozen skiers have passed without any of them being able to finish in less than half a second. Daniel Yule basks in a strange sensation: he sees that no one is coming to challenge him but he does not believe that it will last. “I was thinking I would finish in the top 10. Winning, I never thought of it.”

From the 17th or 18th starter, Yule’s reference time is now threatened up to the third intermediate time. But there’s still half a second difference at the bottom. The Swiss skiers Ramon Zenhäusern and Marc Rochat also break their teeth in turn. Just behind the Vaudois, who dodged the mixed zone and chews on his mouthguard to vent his disappointment, the program takes a break. Daniel Yule takes the opportunity to answer an interview request. In his absence, the seat is empty, and Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen is the first to light up the fourth and final intermediate time in green. But the final light is still invariably red. Yule quickly returns to his place…

When Loïc Meillard fails by 16 hundredths, it’s a top 5 secured. Then the top 4 when Atle Lie McGrath hits a gate. Then the podium when Manuel Feller, the leader of the World Cup slalom, does worse in his turn. Only then does Daniel Yule let his joy burst out. And starts to get dressed for the awards ceremony. Timon Haugan’s failure ensures the presence of two Swiss skiers on the podium. And when Clément Noël can only finish third, the impossible has become reality.

While the winners are on the podium, the experts of the White Circus try to explain what just happened. “The track is less ‘unskiable’ than one might think, but it is salted, because a lot of salt was added in the preceding days to prevent the snow from melting with the warm weather. This results in snow that “rolls” a little more under the foot, the ski makes little “drifts,” and prevents generating speed,” explains former French slalom skier Sébastien Amiez, whose son Steven finished in 9th place. Daniel Yule was therefore more the least slow than the fastest. “There is less than a second difference in the total time between the first and the 28th, I have never seen such a small difference,” highlights Sébastien Amiez. But beware: Yule is no ordinary skier and he pulled off an incredible round.”

“It’s going to be hard to beat…”

A round prepared in Champex, says Matteo Joris, one of the men’s slalom team coaches. “For two days, we were really able to prepare on this type of snow. We really have to thank the people of Champex who made this possible.” Loïc Meillard arrives, who wants to pay tribute to his coaches. “We were heavily criticized at the start of the season when we were not far off. The coaches are doing a fantastic job… This snow didn’t suit me in Schladming but the Champex camp allowed me to find the right settings.”

Daniel Yule is the hero of the day, at the same time as he enters the annals. Never has a skier who finished last in the first round won a World Cup slalom. “It’s going to be difficult to beat…,” smiles the Valaisan. His calm surprises some, but is quite well explained. He spent his day first cursing a botched round and then thinking that his effort would not be enough. “It’s a bit like that, yes, the feelings are a bit strange…”

His crazy comeback started with a mistake in the first round. Would he have won if he had finished 10th in the first round? Knowing the data of the problem (the advantage of starting first in the second round), and to stay in football terminology, did Daniel Yule invent the tactical foul? The Valaisan laughs. “Do it on purpose? No, not really. The margins are too fine and it’s so stressful.”