DAVE RYDING SLALOMS INTO HISTORY
Dave Ryding, skiing’s ‘old dog’, teaching the youngsters a few tricks in Kitzbühel
Dave ‘Rocket’ Ryding delivers emphatic proof that “there’s life in the old dog yet” with a historic win in Kitzbühel
At the ripe old racing age of 35, Dave Ryding made double ski history on 22 January 2022. By completing a textbook final run on Kitzbühel’s infamous Ganserl slalom course the Lancastrian became the oldest winner of a men’s World Cup slalom and the first British skier to win a gold medal in the 55-year history of the Alpine World Cup.
After a season that has so far seen both flashes of brilliance and costly errors, Dave was placed sixth after his first run on the Gänserl, regarded by many as the most challenging slalom course in the World Cup series. Undeterred, he delivered a masterclass in slalom technique and controlled speed with his final run, coming in at 49.86sec to beat Norway’s Lucas Braathen by 0.38sec and shunt fellow Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen in to third position.
After crossing the finish line to victory, securing his fourth World Cup medal, an ecstatic Dave announced: “There’s life in the old dog yet! I’m 35 now but I never stopped believing, I never stopped trying.” His success is all the more remarkable given his pathway to the top: encouraged by his father to try skiing at their local dry slope in Pendle when he was six, he had his first experience of race training on real snow aged 14. He bagged his first World Cup podium (silver in the slalom at Kitzbühel in 2017) aged 30, an age when many alpine ski racers are already considering retirement.
However, as Dave explained: “I always believed I could do it, I always thought I can do this but my races were getting less and less, and doubt is always there… My team never stopped believing, they kept pushing me. More than I would like sometimes. My fiancée always supports me, my family is always there and I’m not the easiest to deal with all of the time. I hope they are popping a prosecco at home.”
It is fitting that Dave’s victory – in his 97th race – should coincide with the centenary of Sir Arnold Lunn’s organisation of the world’s first slalom race in Mürren. We have no doubt that Sir Arnold would have been delighted to see Dave win a gold medal for Britain in the sport he devised, finally breaking that rather British habit of inventing a sport, introducing a few people to it, racking up some victories and then embarking on a sustained losing run...
And it’s not just the home crowd that was backing Dave – the ‘Rocket’ has a dedicated following across the world. A German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, ran a story on Ryding’s triumph with the headline: “Ein Brite? Ein Brite!” (A Brit? A Brit!), while American Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin was full of praise for our man: “I’m astounded and impressed by Dave’s skiing, but also not surprised. He’s been one of my favourite slalom skiers for years now. He’s inspired a ton of little racers today.”
The Ski Club’s general manager, James Gambrill, watched the race in a mountain restaurant less than 20km from Kitzbühel. “The atmosphere was electric," describes James. “Austrians were coming up and congratulating me!”
Dave’s victory comes the day after he was selected to represent Team GB at his fourth Winter Olympics, which begins in Beijing on 4 February. We can’t wait to see what the Lancastrian Rocket will pull out of his ski bag!