Dave Ryding in Action

26th January 2021

Last modified on May 13th, 2021

The Rocket was back in action in the Schladming night slalom. It was a surreal event without the crowds and heavy snow was falling. It wasn’t to be for Dave Ryding but some fabulous skiing was on display and it cast our mind back to this time last year. UPDATED

It is a sporting event like no other and is up there with the Hahnenkamm in our book as one of the most exciting ski events in the racing calendar.

Up to 50,000 people descend on the Austrian ski town to revel in the racing and party like it is going out of fashion.

Only this year there are no crowds.

Only race teams, organisers, officials and a small number of media.

Our editor, James Cove, was in the crowd last year.

World Cup ski racing. Image © PlanetSKI.

Schladming Night Race. Image © PlanetSKI.

Ryding has already made the podium this year coming third in Adelboden and Schladming is one of his favourite slopes.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be Dave’s night.

After the first run he was in 20th place.

It would have taken some second run and mistakes by others to see him reach the Top Ten.

The crowd, if there had been one, would have been going wild after the first run as the leader was the Austrian, Manuel Feller, with his fellow Austrian, Michael Matt, in third place.

In second place was the Norwegian, Sebastian Foss-Solevaag

Dave improved in the second run but finished in 15th place.

The Austrian crowd would have had something to cheer about at the end.

Austria’s Marco Schwarz secured his second Alpine Skiing World Cup victory of the season.

His compatriots, Feller and Matt, crashed out on their second run in a tense and exciting night of slalom racing.

Schwarz had been sixth after the first run but stormed down the course in his second, finishing in a combined time of 1min 44.04sec.

He edged out the Frenchman, Clement Noël, by 0.68sec.

His fellow Frenchman, Alexis Pinturault, extended his lead at the top of the overall World Cup standings as he took third place.

The triumph for Schwarz, a three-time World Championships medallist, saw him become the first skier to win two slalom events on this season’s World Cup circuit.

“It’s pretty amazing to win in Schladming, it’s the classic to win. It was tough to come back from sixth place in the first run, but to win feels pretty amazing,” said Schwarz after the win.

“Last night was definitely a lot different to normal! I prefer 50,000 crazy fans thats for sure!” said Dave on Wednesday.

“I was slightly off my game for whatever reason but i gave it my all.. maybe too tense and lacked my flow. It was seriously tough out there.”

It would have been good to see Ryding do better, but no matter – we are confident his time will come.

A Top 15 is in the World Cup points

It was just so good to see some fabulous racing and heavy snow falling.

With luck PlanetSKI will be back at the Schladming night race next year in person.

It is also a fabulous ski area too and tonight we’re also thinking of its slopes and dreaming of skiing.