GB slalom legend Ryding bids farewell to Olympics

Dave Ryding can pinpoint the exact moment he first dreamed of competing at a Winter Olympics.

“It was actually in a religious education lesson. I’m not sure I was paying enough attention to the teacher.”

On Monday, that daydreaming lad from Lancashire raced at his fifth and final Olympics, his retirement imminent at the age of 39 after a career that has cemented his place as Britain’s greatest Alpine skier.

Ryding – known as ‘the Rocket’ – finished 17th in the slalom in Bormio, lower than he and anyone would have hoped for but getting to the finish line was a challenge in itself.

The first run was held in torrid conditions and he was one of only 46 skiers – out of 96 starters – to complete it amid heavy snowfall.

While conditions had vastly improved for the second run, with the loose snow cleared and blue skies overhead, he could not make up enough time to challenge for a higher finish, his ninth spot from 2018 remaining his best Olympic result.

But Ryding still took his moment, bowing after crossing the line.

Team-mate Billy Major was one place higher in 16th but Laurie Taylor straddled on the first run.

Asked about Ryding as a child, his mum, dad and grandparents all say the same thing: he never stopped.

But there had to be competition.

“If there were two snails going up a wall, he’d be betting on his one going up first,” his grandmother Muriel told Ski Sunday.

He dabbled in every sport going but it wasn’t until he was eight that he first clipped into skis, not in the mountains, but on the dry slope of Pendle Ski Club.

It became his playground. He did little training on snow until he was 13 though he continued to race on plastic into his early 20s.

Ryding had a late breakthrough to the top circuit of the sport, earning his first World Cup points just a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday and not adding any more until two years later.

He continued to plug away, picking up three podium finishes before he reaped the rewards of his perseverence and resilience in 2022 when, at the age of 35, he became the first Briton, and oldest skier, to win World Cup slalom gold with his victory in Kitzbuhel.

“It’s been incredible to watch his journey and every time he did something, it was like ‘wow’,” said his wife Mandy, herself a former skier for the Netherlands.

“Skiing for Great Britain, not having any mountains, it was just bizarre. First it was a Europa Cup win, then he started making top 30s in the World Cup, World Cup podiums and then he actually won one.

“Even the guys on the World Cup tour were like, ‘How is this possible? He started on dry slopes’. It’s out of this world.”

What Ryding credits the longevity of his career with perhaps comes as a surprise – once running a cafe in Tarleton with Mandy.

Devoting his life to slalom had turned his brain “to cauliflower” but the “real world” had proved to him that the grass wasn’t necessarily greener.

For much of his career, Ryding was a lone wolf. The key thing missing, for him, was a pack.

It is no coincidence then that Ryding saw an uptick in his results when Taylor and Major joined him on the World Cup circuit.

Since 2022, the year the trio formed a British ‘team’ in an otherwise individual sport, Ryding achieved four more World Cup podiums, including that Kitzbuhel win.

“The next generation really believes and talks about podiums like it’s a normal thing.

“To be ranked in the top 30 for 11 years and the top 15 for nine years, it was a constant visual thing for kids to watch.

“I think the belief that I will leave with the next generation is the biggest thing that will come from my career.

Taylor told BBC Sport: “Everyone coming after Dave is going to be a product of him, inspired by what he’s done.

“Watching the way he works, his commitment, how professional he is, there are so many aspects I’ve taken from him through my career, he’s had such an impact.”

So what is next for Ryding? He is adamant he will stay in the sport in some capacity, keen to mentor young skiers.

That would afford him more time at home, something he “owes” to Mandy and their three-year-old daughter Nina.

“I have to learn that not everything is about my quads and how I’m feeling in the morning.

“It’s going to be a transition. I’m going to have to learn about normal life. I’m ready for the change.”

Reflecting on his career, he added: “Everyone always says, ‘What if you grew up in the mountains? What if you had all this training before you were 10?’.

“I don’t look back and think ‘what if?’ I look back and think that was my story. That was my legacy and my path.

“I’m immensely proud of where I came from, a little village in Lancashire. Mum and dad sacrificed their lives for me.