Aspen has long had a place in the record books of ski racing, it may not be a regular stop off for the World Cup Tour but the three races held in 2024 have seen some immense skiing.The slalom rounded off an immense weekend for the Swiss with Loic Millard winning his firs world cup race ahead of Linus Strasser and Clement Noel. It was the performance of Dave Ryding in seventh and Laurie Taylor, in eighth, that had the British ski racing fans cheering louder. This was the first time that two British racers had been in the top ten of a World Cup race.
Clement Noel put down the marker on the Tristan Glasse Davies set run one but could not live with the pace of Meillard and Strasser on run two as he crashed out on run two, leaving Henrik Kristoffersen in third.
Ryding had ended run one in fifth place, 1.28 off the lead. With heavy snow having given the race organisers a nightmare start to the day, the piste team had started work at three in the morning to try and get the slope ready for the race. They did a magnificent job! Only Meillard had been able to stay in touch with Noel, just 0.27 back with Kristoffersen over a second back.
The deteriorating slope meant that there was a huge drop out as racers looked to cut the line and suffering straddles. 25 racers crashed out on run one with just 39 making the finish! Billy Major was sadly one of those to not make the finish, straddling near the top.
Laurie Taylor, starting 49, battled hard. It was not pretty at times, there were mistakes aplenty but this was a great example for young racers in fighting all the way down. His reward was 19th after the first run.
If his first run was inspiring, his second run was gutsy and he posted the fastest second run time of all thirty racers on the second run. Taylor has shown plenty of speed in the past and this was a real example of how devastatingly fast he can be in the right conditions. This was his opportunity to show what he can do and he took his chance with both hands.
With the nations honours on the line, Ryding also rose to the challenge and just held off Taylor on the second run. Ryding may have slipped from 5th to 7th overall but having two racers in the top eight (let alone ten) was emphatic. To reiterate the words of Ryding from earlier this season, Is it not time UK Sport reengaged with alpine ski racing! This has been one hell of a season for Alpine.
Switzerland may have swept the board in winning all three races in Aspen, but the confidence wave for the British Team with this result will be huge. A Tsunami of confidence maybe not but the importance is huge!
Ryding is one of only two racers to have scored in every round of the World Cup as he now sits in 8th place overall. The other racer in Manuel Feller who leads the Slalom standings.
For Taylor he now sits in 33rd with Billy Major in 30th. With the top 25 getting tickets to go to the World Cup Finals in Saalbach Hinterglemm at the end of the month, both Major (on 48 points) and Taylor (on 44) will need a podium realistically to qualify. 86 points is currently the water mark for 25th place and qualification.
Taylor won $5,000 for his rise up the rankings from 49th to 8th.
In scoring an 11 point result, this also should move Taylor up the start list. He started 49 in Aspen with 16.69 FIS points, Major with 11.82 started 36. With every number higher up the start list, the course is cleaner and the chances greater for making the second run. The trick now is to head to Kranjska Gora and back this up!
Full results from Aspen Slalom