Until Saturday no British skier had ever won a gold medal in the 55-year history of the Alpine World Cup. But Ryding’s stunning victory in Kitzb ühel changed all that – and earned him €100,000 (£84,000) .
Asked what went through his mind on the start line before his remarkable second run, which took him from sixth place to first, Ryding was disarmingly honest. “I thought: ‘ Bugger it, I’ll just try and get down and ski as well as I can and see where that gets me ,’” he replied.
The performance made Ryding the oldest ever winner of a men’s World Cup slalom event, but afterwards he was too tired to celebrate with a few drinks. “I am too old for that,” he said, smiling. “I am absolutely shattered. We had a nice meal.”
The popular skier will soon travel to Beijing for his fourth Winter Olympic Games – where he admits, to borrow a phrase from Sir Alex Ferguson, it will be “squeaky-bum time”.
“Of course I’m going to have pressure and of course people are going to expect I will do well,” he admitted.
“At my last Olympics I got to the start gate and it was squeaky-bum time.
Denne historien er fra January 24, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra January 24, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
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