Britain’s ‘old dog’ Olympian storms to a historic gold

Ryding boosts Beijing hopes as oldest World Cup winner

SLALOM star Dave Ryding became the first British skier to win a gold medal in the 55-year history of the Alpine World Cup on Saturday with a storming run that will send a pulse of optimism through Team GB ahead of the Winter Olympics.

The 35-year-old was sixth after his first run in Kitzbuhel, Austria, but in a stunning second descent of 49.86sec he dipped ahead of the Norwegian pair of Lucas Braathen and Henrik Kristoffersen.

After becoming the oldest winner of a men’s World Cup slalom event, he kissed the snow.

Ryding made his World Cup debut in Alta Badia in 2009 and was competing in his 97th race Saturday.

‘There’s life in the old dog yet,’ he said. ‘I’m 35 now but I never stopped believing, I never stopped trying.

I always believed I could do it, I always thought I can do this but my races were getting fewer and fewer and doubt is always there.

‘My team never stopped believing, they kept pushing me. My fiancee always supports me, my family is always there and I’m not the easiest to deal with all of the time.’

The win is a huge boost to Ryding and Team GB before the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 4. It follows a day after he was named in the team, having finished ninth in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. Ryding (left) had not gone higher than fifth in previous World Cup events this season, but he made history by virtue of his blistering second run. He added: ‘It means the world to hear some Brits and people cheering. There’s always some Brits in the Alps because we love skiing. We love to party as well.’

Ryding began skiing on a 50m dry slope in Pendle, Lancashire, and was 12years-old before he skied on snow for the first time. ‘I didn’t grow up on snow, I grew up on plastic ski slopes, which were 11 seconds long,’ he said. ‘I think I’m everyone’s second-favourite skier. Everyone knows my story, it’s totally different.’

He recently confirmed Beijing will be his last Olympics.’

Norway’s Sebastian Foss-Solevag and Italy’s Giuliano Razzoli, who were third and fourth, respectively, both straddled a gate and failed to finish.

Defending overall champion Alexis Pinturault also straddled a gate early in his second run as the Frenchman became one of 11 racers who skied out in the final leg.

Manuel Feller, the top-ranked Austrian in slalom, sat out the race after testing positive for Covid.