Ryding battles conditions to claim slalom gold

The British field got even stronger in the presence of Ryding on Friday, as he took to Tignes' slopes for the Slalom – the last race of this year's National Championships – knowing that all eyes were on him.

But this was to be no breeze for the 28-year-old, who was forced to work hard as snowfall and poor visibility made for two extremely difficult runs.

Of the 100 male competitors that started, only 28 completed the race and blazing a trail was Ryding, whose aggregate time of 1:19.73 minutes beat the rest of the field by more than a second.

The British National Championships slalom title is one more success in a wonderful season that has placed him just outside the top 30 seeds in next year's World Cup for the moment.

But even he admitted Friday’s conditions caused him trouble.

"It was difficult obviously with the weather and the snow but that's what you've got to expect at this time of year," he said.

"It does make for a more stressful day than a nice sunny one would have been – in the end it wasn't vintage me but it was reasonable.

"I'm 31st on the World Cup start list at the moment, but for next year I should start in the 30 with a few people retiring.

"It's massively important, breaking into the top 30 is what everyone is trying to do and when you do it you’ve got to make sure you come properly ready and kick on from there."

Completing the British men's podium was Billy Major, who picked up his fourth silver of the Championships, and Alex Barounos – the bronze his first medal of the week.

While Ryding was Friday's star attraction, teenager Max Baggio has been the talk of Tignes all week, and he was fittingly awarded the Sir John Ritblat Victor Ludorum Trophy as overall winner of the National Championships.

The 19-year-old won the British Super-G, Downhill and Giant Slalom titles before he was robbed of consistency at the last, failing to finish his Slalom run while well positioned to take another run at the podium.

He beat last year's overall winner Cara Brown into second, who slipped outside the medals in the ladies' Slalom, but nonetheless will leave Tignes as British National Downhill Champion.

And Baggio said: "I’m really happy, I definitely didn’t think about it before I came here.

"To have won the overall trophy is exciting, and it’s always been one of the things I’ve wanted to win. It was a bit annoying after coming out of the Slalom, but sometimes that’s the way it goes."

It was double delight for Alex Tilley in the women’s race, who dominated in much the same way as Ryding did to pick up her second gold medal in as many days.

Her searing aggregate time, 1:16.80minutes, placed her five seconds ahead of nearest British challenger Natalia Harte.

"Here it’s all just about the title and it’s a very different feeling standing at the start gate," said Tilley.

"You have something to lose and that can be difficult to deal with, I think I did my best tactically over the last two days and thankfully it paid off."

However Harte’s second place was no mean feat after she revealed that a wheat allergy attack struck just as she was about to start her second run.

"I ended up skiing all the way down crying because it makes you dizzy and gives you double vision," explained Harte, who fended off third-placed Brit Alice Macaulay by just five hundredths of a second to take silver.

"So I’m very, very shocked that I got that result.

"I was pretty sure that I was going to come out at every gate, but I just thought to myself that I was going to get down the course no matter what."

Friday brought the curtain down on the National Championships but with both Giant Slalom and Slalom National Junior Championships races still to come, there is still plenty of silverware up for grabs in Tignes.

© Sportsbeat 2015