GB’s Dave Ryding Ends His Olympic Career
The first run on the Stelvio in Bormio went ahead in a blizzard.
The floodlights were on in an attempt to provide some visibility for the racers.
Many of the world’s best struggled.
The new Olympic Giant Slalom champion Lucas Pinheiro Braaten was among a long list of contenders who failed to complete the course.
Dave dug deep in worsening conditions, but crossed the line 3.74s behind the leader, Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath.
It was good enough for 19th.
Dave Ryding at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Image © Sam Mellish/Team GB
Not too bad as it turned out, especially as, of 95 starters, only 44 made it to the finish line.
Among them was Dave’s GB teammate, Billy Major, in an impressive 13th.
“I couldn’t really see what was under my feet,” Dave told the BBC after his run.
“Let’s see if I can find one last run, let’s see what I can do.”
Just before Dave went for run two, the BBC presenter and four-time Olympic ski racer, Chemmy Alcott, put it perfectly:
“Whatever happens today is irrelevant because the impact of Dave Ryding will last for a long, long time.”
Fortunately, the weather cleared for run two.
Dave successfully negotiated all the gates from top to bottom to bow out of his long and remarkable Olympic career.
Dave Ryding waving goodbye at the end of his last Olympics. Image © Sam Mellish/Team GB
Last summer Dave announced that Milan-Cortina 2026 would be his last Olympic Games:
Dave Ryding in Schladming, Jan 2024. Image © PlanetSKI
This was Dave’s fifth Olympic Games since he started at the Vancouver Games, Canada, in 2012.
On the eve of his final Olympic race in Bormio in Italy he said “I’ve had a really long career, a really successful career.”
The 39-year-old slalom specialist became the first British alpine skier to win a World Cup race as he topped the podium at Kitzbuehel in 2022.
As a winner his name adorns one of its gondolas.
Ryding & his gondola. Image c/o Kitzbühel Tourisme
In the 2025 World Championships he sealed GB’s best result by a male since 1934 by finishing sixth.
Dave has been a great friend of PlanetSKI over the years and has always found the time to speak to us when asked, despite his busy schedule.
PlanetSKI’s James Cove & Dave Ryding. Image © PlanetSKI
PlanetSKI’s Jane Peel with Dave Ryding in Schladming, Jan 2024. Image © PlanetSKI
Earlier on PlanetSKI we looked back at his long racing career in a two-part special:
Dave Ryding on an early family ski holiday to the Alps
Dave Ryding. Image © PlanetSKI
Despite this being his last Olympic Games he is continuing to race on the World Cup circuit this season and we look forward to seeing Dave bring his stellar career to a conclusion.
He will then no doubt be spending more time with his wife Mandy and their daughter, Nina.
Dave Ryding with wife Mandy and daughter Nina in Schladming Jan 2024. Image © PlanetSKI
Dave is hugely popular with his fellow professionals and ski racing fans across the world.
We have never met anyone that has a bad word to say about The Rocket’.
He remains the best alpine ski racer GB has ever produced, and his status as a ski legend both in Great Britain and across the ski world is secure and unquestionable.
It will be a long time before we see his like again.
Related Articles:
- Ryding in Top Ten in Val d’Isere
- Ryding Calls for Slalom Races to be Moved to Higher Altitude
- Ryding is 7th best slalom skier in the world
- Ryding gets his own gondola in Kitzbuehel
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