He had promised to “risk it for the biscuit” and while Dave Ryding ended up with crumbs in his fourth and final Olympics, he said he had no regrets. “It’s been a hell of a journey,” he said after his 13th-place finish in the men’s slalom, sporting a smile that could have lit up Beijing.
The popular 35-year-old, who learned his trade on a dry slope in Lancashire where wandering sheep and their slippy excrement were a frequent hazard, has developed into one of the world’s best alpine skiers. But a mistake while leading on his first run cost him the best part of a second and any chance he had of finishing his career with an Olympic medal.
