Ryding and teammates lose the funds to train, their alarm cry: "Let's save a great team"

Just after the best season in the history of British skiing, here is the decision (linked to the Olympic "disappointment") of UK Sport. The appeal of the five athletes protagonists in the World Cup.

Tuesday 9 August 2022 4 minutes reading time

A situation that worries an entire team, creating a huge problem in terms of resources and management for the next competitive season and beyond. This is what the standard-bearers of Great Britain have to face for the 2022/23 World Cup year, both for alpine skiing and for Nordic skiing. On August 4th, UK Sport decided to cut funds for GB Snowsport. The reason? It would be linked to the failure to achieve the objectives for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games: only two medals (one gold and one silver) arrived from curling, despite the 3-7 planned (in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 there were 5), but net of the great 2021/22 season disputed by UK skiers, it was difficult to expect a podium in the most important event. Yet, what Dave Ryding and his companions did was not enough to prevent the British government from implementing a cut (reducing the funds allocated for all winter disciplines to just 11.9 million towards the Olympic four-year period that will lead to Milan Cortina 2026) which puts The entire next season is in danger: through an appeal launched via social media, even with a dedicated video, the five top skiers of the alpine ski national team have revealed this enormous problem, explaining that 800 thousand euros will be needed to be collected in the next eight weeks to support training, travel and so on. A bit like what happened on several occasions for the North American national teams (think only of the United States, with Mikaela Shiffrin who spent herself personally for her teammates) and beyond. Yet, in the last competitive year very important results arrived in the World Cup: from the historic victory of Ryding in the Kitzbuehel slalom (followed by a podium in Garmisch), to the three points finishes of Charlie Raposo, who closed with a 16th place in giant in Kranjska Gora before signing with the team of Marcel Hirscher to compete with the new brand "Van Deer", two young slalomists like Billy Major, 18th in Schladming for the first top 30 in CdM, and Laurie Taylor 25th in Campiglio (her second time in the points in the maximum circuit). And at the women's level, Charlie Guest brought Britain the best slalom result in 33 years now, taking 13th position in the Schladming temple race. “Simply contact us for support and start a fundraiser that can ensure we can continue the preparation and save our careers and the future of British skiing”, the appeal of athletes who are now in great difficulty.

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