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Ryding experiences the Kitzbuehel atmosphere

It has been a good couple of weeks for Dave Ryding after taking two top twenty results in the Europa Cup series. Coming into Kitzbuehel, Ryding knew that he was skiing well and felt that after inspection that he could attack the course. Seeing the course during inspection and then racing it after 72 other racers had been down the course, there was a marked difference in the course: with the flat light and the hole ridden course, Ryding struggled to come to terms with the course and was soon out. “This is definitely where I feel I should be at the moment,” Ryding explained.

Ryding is on a roll at the moment and while the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport, it takes little steps to get to the very top. After he had crashed out on the first run and was walking down the side of the course to the finish area, Ryding was stopped by some British fans. How did he feel about having some British support in the crowd? “It is nice having British fans at the races but I just hope that they realise that I am not at the standard of Kostelic … yet!” he explained before adding “I hope to be there one day!”

From inspecting the course to racing the course, things changed. Ryding felt that he “could have a go at this,” after inspection and this is what he did. In retrospect though, he felt that he had not used any tactics and that “this was a little dumb.”

So where does Ryding go from here? The Europa Cup is the level that he is fast becoming a threat on and after a 7^th, 14^th and 18^th this season he is starting to feel that he can “really attack on the Europa Cup races: “Meribel was really good last week on the first run and then I had two mistakes on the second run so I went back a little bit. Lenzerheide I was a little bit under the weather and had no juice at the bottom but another top twenty so that is good.”

Does he feel that this is the route to go down at the moment? “For sure. Here with bib 73 and 12 points, normally it would be around 65 but still you need to have a hell of a run to make it from there. Until I have lower points I am going to keep doing the Europa Cups and building on that. I am at a level where I should start World Cup now but I would not say that I am at a level where I can get in there every week. I just have to keep working and building towards it. This year I have definitely improved and this has reflected in my results.”

While skiing fast is one part of the plan, choosing the races to go to is another important element. There is no point in going for the big races when the conditions are like they are at the moment. With this in mind Ryding will give Schladming a miss and go and race in the Europa Cup in Zell am See on Tuesday, the same night as the World Cup in Schladming. With this in mind he will start around the 20 mark in the Europa Cup race and he feels that he can “start to charge the Europa Cups. If I am honest I was not really charging in Lenzerheide, the piste was a disaster. I sort of stuck it in the on both runs and came away with 18^th.”

The British team are based in Zell so will this benefit him? Not really as the race will take place on a public piste and they are not allowed to train on that.  Ryding has raced on the slope but only in GS. “I know what the slope is like but it is all about going for it in the Europa Cup now.”

Ryding has raced in Zagreb, Alta Badia and now Kitzbuehel. The Austrian resort is one of the top races on the Slalom calendar, what does he feel about it? “This is one of the main Slalom races along with Schladming but to me it is just like any other World Cup race at the moment,” he explained.

The season may be half way through now but this is where the miles start to add up: Bulgaria, Germany and Austria are all on the map now and after the middle of February the Europa Cup slalom’s dry up. So what then? The banter between the British racers in different disciplines means that they are all trying to get better results than the others. Ryding and TJ Baldwin have a race on to see who can get under 20 FIS points in GS first, “first one under 20 gets the bragging rights,” explained Ryding!

Ryding ends his chat in Kitzbuehel with “I have got my races planned, I know which races I am going to!”

To follow Dave Ryding’s FIS results click here, for TJ Baldwin, click here