Dave Ryding had been earmarked as one of Britain’s potential medallists at the Winter Olympics in Beijing
(Picture: Getty Images)Dave Ryding had promised a “do or die” approach in the men’s slalom but ultimately came up well short as he finished 13th.
Ryding, who was competing in his fourth Winter Olympics, had been earmarked as one of Britain’s potential medallists after winning a World Cup event in Kitzbuhel last month. But after a bright start in his first run, the 35-year-old was undone by a solitary mistake which cut his speed as he trailed in 16th.
A far stronger second outing saw him climb up the order by three places but still left him a second and a half behind French gold medallist Clement Noel. Austria’s Johannes Strolz won silver and Norway’s Sebastian Foss-Solevaag the bronze.
Following his second run, Ryding said: “It was okay. I left myself with way too much to do. I didn’t have my best skiing today. Disappointing… but I was missing my A game.
“But no regrets. The Olympics won’t define me because I’ve had a great career. It wasn’t to be. I think I’ve got another year in me. We’ll see what we do next year.”
Mixed fortunes for GB curlers
Medal hopes also look to be evaporating in the women’s curling team event, after Britain suffered an 8-4 defeat by China to leave them fifth in the group.
Needing to win their final two matches to ensure a top-four spot and a place in the semi-finals, the quartet of Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff were eventually beaten by a Chinese three on the penultimate end.
Skip Muirhead said: “China played very well. We weren’t bad, overall we can’t be too disappointed for that performance. We gave ourselves a lot of chances but unfortunately weren’t able to finish it off.
“All we can do is concentrate on ourselves. We need to recharge and come back tomorrow against the ROC. We have proved we can beat the best teams here but we haven’t managed the consistency. Overall, we can manage it and will give it a go. It’s sport.”
That final group match against the ROC will take place shortly after six o’clock.
Britain beat the ROC in the men’s team event, as Bruce Mouat spearheaded an 8-6 win.
The victory moved them to the top of the group standings with seven wins from eight matches and one round-robin match remaining against Canada tomorrow.
It paves the way for them potentially facing the Canadians twice in one day, depending on how results play out, with the semi-finals also scheduled for tomorrow.
“Tactically they’re a really strong team,” said Mouat of the ROC following the win.
“It was quite tough to keep a lead but we were hitting really well today. We felt quite in control.”
Meanwhile, Team GB’s Kathryn Thomson was forced to pull out of today’s 1500m short track speed-skating quarter-finals on medical grounds.
Winter Olympics medal table
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1 |
Norway |
13 |
7 |
8 |
28 |
2 |
Germany |
10 |
6 |
4 |
20 |
3 |
USA |
8 |
7 |
4 |
19 |
4 |
China |
7 |
4 |
2 |
13 |
5 |
Austria |
6 |
7 |
4 |
17 |
6 |
Netherlands |
6 |
4 |
4 |
14 |
6= |
Sweden |
6 |
4 |
4 |
14 |
8 |
Switzerland |
5 |
0 |
5 |
10 |
9 |
ROC |
4 |
8 |
12 |
24 |
10 |
France |
4 |
7 |
2 |
13 |
- |
Great Britain |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
