British skiing veteran Ledin eager for new season success, aims to become oldest podium finisher
British skiing veteran Dave Ryding has said in an interview with Eurosport that he is still hungry for success in the upcoming World Cup season. Widely regarded as the greatest British skier of all time, Ryding hopes to continue his alpine skiing legacy by becoming the oldest competitor to reach the podium. He will achieve the feat after Christmas.
Ledin, 36, says he still has what it takes to continue the legend of his 15-plus year career. He said, “I’m feeling pretty good. It’s always when you go into winter and winter skiing, so you need to readjust, but physically, mentally and everything feels good.”
“I never expected to be able to do this at this age, so every year is a bonus, a fresh start. I try to think of each year as the last one I might have, but if it feels good, then I’ll stick with it for another year. But I’ll be realistic, it’s important to communicate with my family and I’ll try to put everything into it.”
For many athletes, Olympic glory is the ultimate goal, but not for Ledin. Instead, growing up in the north of England, he has always dreamed of leaving his mark on the World Cup stage for Great Britain, a desire that stems from his desire to compete regularly against the best in the world.
“To be honest, my focus has always been the World Cup,” he added. “My goal as a kid was to finish in the top 30 at the World Cup, and that’s the one thing I’ve etched in my mind that the World Cup is the most important thing to me. I don’t want to think about just one race a season.”
“I like to race, I like to challenge myself so I want to race every weekend and there are even more alpine ski races in the World Cup this year than last year so I’m happy that there are no distractions and that we just have to race the World Cup. I enjoy it.”
Ledin is currently training in Levi, Finland, where temperatures are -11 degrees Celsius, as he prepares for the first World Cup men’s alpine skiing race of the 2023/24 season on November 18 in Gurg, Austria.
He scored his first individual win last January and naturally wants to do it again. But his ultimate goal is to perform more consistently throughout the season and achieve personal bests.
He also faces an additional challenge.
“I think an easy goal is to finish in the top 10 as many times as possible because I think that’s really the top level,” he said. “Getting on the podium is my goal, and if I get on the podium after Christmas I’ll be the oldest person to get on an alpine skiing podium, so that’s important to me.”
“But if I can start the season like I did a couple of seasons ago, I can challenge for a top five ranking in the overall standings and that would be the highest goal I’ve set.”
“I’ve just got to do the right training and put myself in a position to be able to do that and that’s all I’m thinking about right now.”
“Once the fights start, I’ll be thinking, ‘Alright, let’s get this old dog dancing again’.”
British skiing veteran Dave Ryding has said in an interview with Eurosport that he is still hungry for success in the upcoming World Cup season. Widely regarded as the greatest British skier of all time, Ryding hopes to continue his alpine skiing legacy by becoming the oldest competitor to reach the podium. He will achieve…