Industry News
Dave Ryding, Britain’s most accomplished alpine skier, has announced that he will retire following the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. The tech specialist, who to date is the only British Alpine skier to have won a FIS World Cup race, starts mainly in the Slalom and Giant Slalom disciplines. He made his World Cup debut in February 2009 in Val d’Isère, France, at age 23, and has since reached the podium seven times. In January 2022, he won the Slalom at the Ganslernhang in Kitzbühel, Austria. ”If you had told me at 23 years old, that I would still be doing this at nearly 40, I would have not quite believed you,” the 38-year-old admitted in a video by GB Snowsports, the British ski and snowboard association.
At 38, the slalom specialist—known affectionately as “The Rocket”—is preparing for one final run at the Olympic medal that has eluded him across four previous Games. “I’m committed to doing one more year all in and seeing what we can achieve,” Ryding told the BBC this week. “Everything feels right now to draw a line after the Olympics while my body’s good.”
Ryding’s announcement marks the approaching end of a remarkable career that has broken boundaries for British skiing. Born in Lancashire and raised far from the alpine powerhouses of the Alps, Ryding climbed through the ranks of international skiing with quiet determination and a fierce work ethic. He claimed his first podium in January 2017 with a second place in Slalom at the Ganslernhang in Kitzbühel, Austria. It marked the first podium of a Briton since the second place of Konrad Bartelski in Downhill in Val Gardena, Italy, in December 1981.
In typical Ryding-style, he is planning to go out with a bang. “I’m certainly not taking this as a swansong year or a cruise around the Alps,” Ryding said in a video for GB Snowsports. “I just want to add to my legacy and ideally, I’d like to become the oldest World Cup Slalom skier on a podium.” And in his social media account Ryding alludes to hoping it might be another podium in Kitzbühel, where he has claimed a first and two second places during his career.
Currently the title for oldest Slalom podium by a male skier is held by Giuliano Razzoli, was 37 years and 29 days when he finished third in Wengen, Switzerland, in the 2021-22 season. Dave Ryding, almost achieved this feat, missing it by only 12 days in December 2023 at Madonna di Campiglio., Italy. However, Ryding holds the title for the oldest man to win a World Cup slalom race at 35 years old.
Ryding is married to former Dutch ski racer Mandy Dirkzwager, and the couple welcomed a daughter in July 2022. Ryding will be 39 when he lines up in Cortina, aiming to cap off a trailblazing career with a long-awaited Olympic medal. Until then, he remains focused, fit, and determined—not just to finish, but to finish on top.
