British skier Ryding ends 55-year slump with Cup slalom win

Dave Ryding kneeled in the finish area and kissed the snow. A few meters away, his coach and ski technician cried in happiness.

British ski racing had been waiting for this moment for more than five decades.

Ryding had just become the first British winner in the 55-year history of the Alpine skiing World Cup on Saturday, triumphing in one of the classic slaloms of the men’s circuit at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

“I guess my name will be in history now,” Ryding said.

Sixth after the opening run, Ryding pumped his fist a few times when he took the lead after his strong final run in dense snowfall on one of the circuit’s most challenging slalom courses.

He then witnessed how the last five racers all made big mistakes and finished well behind — or not at all.

“It means everything, it’s incredible. No one deserves it more than Dave,” said ski technician Jai Geyer, a former ski racer who retired in 2016 and competed on the second-tier European Cup.

“He is a solid, intelligent skier,” Geyer added. “It means so much to British skiing. Dave, winning against the odds, it’s incredible.”

Lucas Braathen, who won the slalom in Wengen last week coming from 29th position after the first run, finished 0.38 seconds behind in second, followed by Norwegian teammate Henrik Kristoffersen.

Ryding’s triumph came five years after the Briton earned his first career World Cup podium at the same iconic venue in the Austrian Alps, finishing runner-up to Austrian great Marcel Hirscher.

Ryding had two more podium results, most recently in Adelboden a year ago, before finally clinching his maiden win.

“I’m 35 now but I never stopped believing. I never stopped trying,” Ryding said. “And to bring the first victory for Great Britain in a World Cup in Kitzbühel, I don’t know if dreams are made better, it’s some place.”

The win crowns a remarkable career for Ryding, who learned to ski on dry slopes and skied on snow for the first time at the age of 12.

“I didn’t grow up on snow, I grew up on plastic ski slopes, which were 11 seconds long,” he said.

Ryding made his World Cup debut in Alta Badia in 2009 and was competing in his 97th race Saturday.

“I think I’m everyone’s second-favorite skier. Everyone knows my story, it’s totally different,” he said.

Luke Winterswas the top American finisher in 11th.

• Ayumu Hirano landed the triple cork. Scotty James rode away with the win.

The calculus on the halfpipe remained hazy as ever late Friday night when James notched his fourth career victory at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., even though he didn’t attempt snowboarding’s most-difficult trick.

The question heading into the Olympics is whether it’s even worth it.

Less than five weeks after becoming the first to do it in competition, Hirano again landed a triple-flipping jump on his first trick. But, as was the case the first time, Hirano could not land the next jump. Riders usually need to land at least five to complete a run, and nobody has yet made a triple cork part of a full run in competition.

It left Hirano, the twotime Olympic silver medalist, with a silver medal in Aspen, as well. And James, who took bronze in Pyeongchang four years ago, earned another gold.

Japan halfpipe rider Sena Tomita won her first Winter X Games title Saturday when the favorite, Maddie Mastro, decided not to take a fourth and final run to try for the win.

• A week after crashing at high speed in Austria, Sofia Goggia captured her fourth win in five World Cup downhills this season despite a mishap-filled run in which the Italian was all over the course in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

Hit by a gust of wind shortly into her run, Goggia was pushed wide and had to check her skis to get back into line. A bit further down, she again drifted off course and almost missed a gate. But Goggia regained her speed after each mishap and won by 0.20 seconds ahead of Ramona Siebenhofer of Austria.

It was Goggia’s sixth win overall this season, including two super-Gs.

• Mai Mihara won her second career Four Continents figure skating title in a strong recovery from missing out on the Japanese team for the Winter Olympics, and Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov took pairs gold for the United States in Tallinn, Estonia.

Mihara scored a total 218.03 points to win a second Four Continents title after claiming the gold in 2017.

Lu and Mitrofanov became the first U.S. pair to win Four Continents gold since 2018 after recovering from Lu’s fall on a triple toeloop to post 120.75 in the free skate for a total of 189.10.

The risk of catching the coronavirus ahead of the Winter Olympics has meant many of the top U.S., Canadian and Japanese skaters have opted to skip Four Continents.

• Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken are World Cup overall luge champions for the sixth time, getting that title back just in time for the Olympics.

Eggert and Benecken won the season’s World Cup doubles finale in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Hawai’i hires former QB Chang as coach

The University of Hawai’i hired former star quarterback Timmy Chang as its new head coach. Terms were not announced.

The hiring was announced a day after former Hawai’i coach June Jones declined an offer to return as coach.

The school’s wins leader in Division I, Jones met Friday with the athletic director David Matlin, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, and rejected the offer when he learned it would be for only two years and Matlin would have to approve the assistant coaches.

Jones took to social media to voice his displeasure with the terms.

“I am still interested in this job for the people of Hawaii, but the job offered me today, there is no way I could accept with the conditions offered me,” Jones, 68, tweeted. “No coach in their right mind would accept!

“Dictating who can be on my staff and only 2 year contract … what recruit would come if I was here for 2 years?. This has never been about money — but it is about giving me the ability to turn our program around and not have people tell me who is on my staff or how to coach my team.”

Chang will replace Todd Graham, who resigned Jan.14 amid controversy after completing the second-year of a five-year contract. He stepped down a week after former players and some parents testified before a state legislative hearing, criticizing the coach’s management style and relationships with players. More than a dozen players entered the transfer portal.

• Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler retired less than a week after his 19th season with the team ended in a blowout playoff loss to Kansas City.

• Auburn defensive coordinator Derek Mason stepped down and was replaced by Jeff Schmedding.