Featured Image: Dave Ryding at the award ceremony of the Kitzbühel men’s World Cup slalom. Credit: GEPA/Gintare Karpaviciute

Dave Ryding, English World Cup slalom specialist, is striving to take on the young bucks and climb to the top of podiums this season. Currently, he stands 15th in the world rankings of slalom and is considered the greatest British skier of all time. If he achieves a top-3 finish this winter, he can also add to his decorated resume as the oldest ski racer to podium in a World Cup slalom. 

Starting with the debut of the new slalom in Gurgl, Austria, Ryding, a Fischer athlete, is feeling excited and prepared to take on the winter. Gurgl Ski Area is a major supporter and the title sponsor for Ryding. He has been proudly repping the Gurgl logo across his forehead for seven seasons and is looking forward to their debut as a World Cup hill. In GB Snowsport, Tristan Glasse-Davies, head coach, Alain Baxter, coach, and Jai Geyer, ski technician, have remained as Ryding’s dedicated team going into the 2023/24 season. 

He has just made it to the Gurgl ski area and dedicated some time to have a brief, exclusive interview with Ellie Hartman from Ski Racing Media about the season ahead.

Do you feel ready for this first race in Gurgl? 

I’m not sure I ever feel ready for the first race because the cobwebs go back on over the summer, forgetting the race feel, and you never really know what to expect. But I’m sure once I put boots on Saturday, I will click into the sort of race routine, and I will go with my normal sort of flow that I’ve learned over the years. 

How was your prep period and off-season training going into this winter?

Yeah, so I’ve literally just come here straight from Sweden yesterday. It was nice. I spent the night in Munich and then drove up here today. So, yeah, we’ve just had a long four-week block up in the north, not quite four weeks, but around there and then, yeah, straight into this. I was able to commit to the physical training through the summer, and now I’m skiing again.

What are your top goals for this season? 

To make sure my legs don’t fall off… I’m joking (he laughs). As always, try and compete with the best in the world as regularly as possible, ideally every weekend. And yeah, I always aim to be in the top 10, and obviously podiums are where I want to be. The ultimate goal… I would say a simple one to have is if I get a podium this season, well, after, say, Christmas, I’ll be the oldest ever slalom skier on a podium, so that would be a nice little stat to have and definitely that’s where I want to be. I’d love to compete for more podiums. 

**Currently, the oldest skier to podium in a World Cup slalom was Italian Giuliano Razzoli. He placed 3rd in Wengen (2021/22) at age 37 years, 00 months. Dave Ryding will turn 37 on December 5th, 2023. So, for any races after December, he will be considered the oldest to podium. 

With this being a new World Cup hill, are you excited? Are there any nerves that come with the new terrain? 

You get so used to doing the same piece, it almost feels like going into the unknown. Whenever I go to the normal Kitzbühel, Schladming, Val d’Isère, or wherever it is, you kind of know. You know what you’re going to get. You can sort of prepare mentally beforehand. You’re always going through it in your mind, like the terrain, and stuff. But this is a new one, so it’s definitely going to be interesting. I’m definitely going to have to pay a little more attention and inspection to make sure that I spot all the sort of micro terrain that you sort of learn over the years on the other piece. At my age I need a bit of advantage when it comes to experience. I need to play on that a little bit, so I certainly lose a bit of that. 

Being on the World Cup circuit for about 12 years now, and having some different personal life changes, like having a baby girl, how has your skiing career changed overall?

Yeah, I have a 16-month old now, so she’s charging about, and she’s actually coming tomorrow, which is cool. But yeah, it’s nice actually. I’ve always wanted to be a dad, and I really care about her. I’ve always been sort of brought up in a close family, so I like the family vibe. To have my own family is something that has always been really important to me. I can’t wait forever, so it was the right time to have a child in my career. But it does change certain things. I just changed a little bit of the summer so I could have a bit more time with my family. I’ve had a good summer with the family, and my wife is understanding because she used to be a skier herself. 

I had a plan, which is fine. This is what it is. And I knew I could commit to both, so I wouldn’t do it (referring to his ski career) if I didn’t think I could commit to skiing because it takes so much attention and time.

So, yeah, I wouldn’t still be skiing if I didn’t think I could commit a hundred percent out on snow. So, (starting a family) it doesn’t change anything. I do miss them, and going away is tougher and tougher, obviously. 

In terms of skiing, it does get a little tougher, but I still want to prove myself, and I’m realistic. I don’t know when the time will be that I can’t do it anymore, but right now I still can. It’s a tough life, but it’s not a bad way to go about life. 

With your love for the sport, are you going to get your little girl on skis right away?

I am not too sure, to be honest. I will have to see. Just the commitment I have had to put into skiing… It’s kind of daunting to think that I would have to make the same sort of commitment for my daughter. But, yeah, she will definitely do a sport. I just don’t know what sport it will be yet. 

You brought British skiing back on the map. Do you think that has changed or encouraged kids back home to get into ski racing? 

I would say the one thing I have noticed is kids are talking about World Cup podiums now, and they certainly never used to do that when I was coming through. I certainly see Brits dreaming of bigger and better things than anything I saw kids dreaming of when I was younger or what I was dreaming of. 

The perception of what is possible has definitely changed, and hopefully we’ll see the momentum continue. I always kind of look at what British cycling did from the year 2000. They had one guy at the Olympics get a medal. Obviously I’m not at an Olympic medal, but they had one guy at the Olympics get a medal, and four years later, they had two guys. And that kind of snowballed to 2012, where they won every single medal on the track. So I’m not saying we’re going to win every single medal because I don’t think that’s realistic, but it is that sort of momentum. There’s two young guys with me, so hopefully the team will have three or four in the next generation and keep trying to build it that way over time. I believe that is what British skiing has to aim for. 

Dave, what would you say keeps you fighting and motivated each year?

I still have the passion and the love to do it! I still want to try and prove myself on the world stage, and it is tougher, but also, I was talking to someone the other day who asked a similar thing and they said, why’d you keep going, or whatever. And it was like, well, when I was 20 or 25, I would literally have given anything to be in the position that I’m at right now. I’ll be 37 in two weeks, I feel like, for my younger self, I still have to give it a go because I put so much into it. 

Thank you, Dave Ryding. We wish you the best of luck this season! 

This weekend tune into all the action from Dave Ryding, and the World Cup Men’s slalom as they take on the debut of Gurgl, November 18th. Streaming Live on Peacock.