"Believe, push hard and fight."
This is the philosophy that helped Dave Ryding achieve alpine skiing success late in his career.
And it is the attitude that the 36-year-old showed on his return to Kitzbühel after his historic World Cup win one year ago.
Having struggled in the first part of the season, Ryding produced another barnstorming second run to move up from 16th to second place with only Swiss racer Daniel Yule able to eclipse his aggregate time.
Speaking to Olympics.com from his training base in Klausberg-Ahrntal, Austria, ahead of his third World Cup podium finish, the Lancashire native said, "I know my process over the years works, so I just have to stick to it.
“The most important thing is to go to the start again and push as hard as you can out of the gate and then let your skis do the work.
“If you keep consistently doing that and keep training hard on and off the snow, doing everything right, then your results will come. I just have to trust the process and my approach.”
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Dave Ryding: Winning in Kitzbuhel gave me a sense of accomplishment
Twelve months ago, Ryding became the first British alpine skier in history to win a World Cup race.
A success that captured the imagination not just of his compatriots, but made headlines all around the world, reaching the front page of newspapers in Fiji.
It was a fairytale for a man who learned to ski on dry slopes when he was eight and who saw real snow for the first time four years later.
“I remember the day was just crazy,” he recalls.
“It was pure emotion when I crossed the line (he was sixth after the first run), then disbelief, then I was just so tired because of all the adrenaline and everything like that…
“Looking back, I always thought I could win a race. I was 35 when I won and no one in the world, never mind a Brit, had ever won a slalom at 35 in the World Cup. So I was thinking that my days may be gone, but I always just push out the gate again and try my best and that philosophy paid off because Kitzbühel on that day was my day. I skied really well and other people struggled because it was really tough. So, yeah, it showed my strengths, I was able to come to the fore and on my day I was the best in the world.”
Twelve months later how have things changed for the Briton?
“It didn't change me as a person. I still have the same life, I still do the same things, but it certainly took a lot of the pressure off me and it really gave me a sense of achievement and accomplishment,” he admitted.
“My calling for British skiing was to win a race. I will always be remembered as the first person to win a World Cup [event] for Great Britain and that will never be taken away from me. I'm sure people will have better careers than me, but that will never be taken away from me. Even when I'm dead, whenever that is, I will still be the first person. And that gives me a lot of self-gratification, self-fulfilment and I still want to do more, but yeah, I will always be able to stop skiing happy.”
Dave Ryding: Warm temperatures, illness and funding cuts
Ryding finished on the podium twice last season but hasn’t been able to replicate the same performances so far in this campaign. A 12th place in Madonna di Campiglio in December represents his best finish to date.
“It’s just been so warm and in Garmisch, Adelboden, and Wengen conditions have been really bad,” he explained.
“I’ve never been good when the snow has to be salted. If I look at all my results over the years, I think I've had [only] one top ten when it’s been warm. So yeah, definitely an area that I struggle with, but hopefully it's getting colder again so I can feel more myself.”
The ‘Rocket’, as he was nicknamed when a promising teenage skier on the plastic slopes of Pendle, has been facing other challenges over the last few months.
His service man [who prepares the skis] got injured just before Christmas, and then Ryding contracted an illness that recently prevented him from training and racing to the best of his capabilities.
“But I still feel I want to fight,” the Lancastrian promised.
And it didn’t help that UK Sport cut the funding for British skiers last summer, forcing the athletes to seek financial help through a crowdfunding campaign.
“It's an impossible thing to say how much it affected me because thankfully we were still able to train and we made it work. But the stress and the mental energy that we had to put in to find sponsors and find solutions was not what you want to be doing in September or October.”
However, the slalom specialist believes that there are reasons to be hopeful: “I just haven't felt like I've had a proper run in a race yet. I feel all I've been able to do this year is to fight and to cling on. And if I keep doing that, then hopefully my time will come where I'm in the right position, the right shape, where I can go up the podium again. I still think I have the speed to do it.”
And regarding the future of British skiing he added: "How I see it now is that the next generation is much better than my generation. So yeah, while we lost funding this year, hopefully in the long term it makes us set up different, and develop revenue streams that can be more robust for the future."
Dave Ryding: Racing until 40?
The four-time Winter Olympian and Team GB flagbearer from Beijing 2022 has been competing with the world’s best since 2009 and is now one of the World Cup veterans.
So how does he keep going in a sport so physically and mentally demanding?
“I guess I came to skiing later than a lot of people, so I only got into the top 15 at 30 years old. And then I've done six years in the top 15. Whereas someone like Marcel [Hirscher], he was in the top 15 probably when he was 19 and he retired 11 years later at 30,” he explained.
“I think mentally I'm not as tired as most people my age. I'm fully committed. But now I take it year by year and say after this year I will reassess how I am, now with my family as well. But if I decide, ‘Right I can commit’, then I know that I will give 100% for the whole year because that's just what I've committed to and that's me as a person is once I commit to something, I will go all in for that thing.”
Testing and pushing his limits is something that fascinates the Brit: “I'm trying to figure out how to keep going as I get closer to 40,” he said.
“I just admire those that could still do it at the older age. So like the Manny Mölgg, the Giuliano Razzoli… I mean [Johan] Clarey now is doing crazy things in downhill, I don't know if it's possible in slalom at that age, but we'll see if anyone can do it.”
What's the likelihood of seeing him compete at 40 years old? His answer was accompanied by a cheeky smile: “It's not likely at all, I’d say 0.5%!”
Dave Ryding: Life after skiing, coffee and family
As the end of his competitive career is nearing, Ryding is already contemplating life outside skiing.
He and his Dutch wife Mandy run the ‘Boskins café’ in the quiet West Lancashere village of Tarleton, where customers can have espressos, lattes and the ‘Rocket Ryding Breakfast’, which has salmon, mushrooms, avocado and poached eggs on a toast.
“I was 30 years old, and all I knew was red and blue slalom gates. And I felt like my mind was becoming a cauliflower,” the skier confessed.
“I really needed to stimulate my mind in a way and that's what the café did. And it reminded me that the real world, like what 99% of people do is not easy. So I respect what I do and I keep doing what I do because I love it.”
The 36-year-old is also thinking of upgrading his barista skills: “It’s something I would love to do. I love coffee, especially when I'm in Italy. In some countries it’s not so good, but I have a passion for a nice espresso. And after skiing, I definitely like to explore the origins of coffee and how to make a good coffee would be something I’d like to do.”
Where does he see himself in ten years’ time?
“I would love to have a nice house on a beach chilling, but I'm sure I'll be busy working at something because I don't like sit around for too long,” he revealed.
“I think I will still be in skiing in some way. My daughter [Nina] will be ten years old, so maybe she'll be good at skiing or football. Hopefully football…"
What team would be a good fit for her? "I'm a Liverpool fan - he said - but whoever pays the most money will get my blessing!”
