History for Ryding and Great Britain

Today, history was made for Great Britain. A long-time veteran of the Audi FIS World Cup, Dave Ryding (GBR), had only two previous World Cup podiums. But today, the 35 year-old wrote history both for himself and his nation, claiming the slalom victory in Kitzbühel.

The victory makes Ryding the oldest World Cup slalom winner and was the first-time in the 55-year history of the World Cup that a Brit landed on the top spot of the podium.

Starting with bib 15, Ryding sat in sixth place after his first run with a 0.81-second deficit on the leader, Alex Vinatzer (ITA). But after completing a near-perfect second run, on a very challenging course set, he claimed his seat at the leader board. With five more athletes to tackle the course after him, Ryding sat impatiently. One-by-on the remaining athletes came down, most unable to finish. Vinatzer made a huge mistake that cost and Ryding knew that his long wait for a victory was over.

The men’s slalom has been wild and unpredictable this season and today was no exception. The second run proved to be a formidable foe for the top athletes, with more than a third of the athletes failing to finish.

Lucas Braathen (NOR) finished second with a 0.27 second lead on his Norwegian compatriot Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR). Kristoffersen was only 24th after the first run, but jumped up an incredible 21 places to round out the podium.

Tomorrow the speed athletes are back on the hot seat for a second chance to conquer the Streif. It will be their last race before moving onto Beijing for the Winter Olympic Games. Meanwhile, the tech crew will have one final tune-up before the Games, under the lights in Schladming on Tuesday night.