Winter Olympics: Team GB medal wait continues after Dave Ryding's 13th place

Great Britain's hunt for a Winter Olympics medal continues after Dave Ryding finished 13th in the men's slalom in Beijing.

The 35-year-old was true to his pre-race stance of adopting aggressive tactics for a medal bid but a mistake in the first run ended his chances.

"I left myself way too much to do and for some reason I didn't have my best skiing," said Ryding. "I was missing my A game really."

France's Clement Noel claimed gold.

Britain's short track speed skater Kathryn Thomson withdrew from the women's 1,500m quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Team GB announced that, following tests, the 26-year-old would not participate on medical grounds.

In the cross-country skiing's men's team sprint classic, British pair James Clugnet and Andrew Young were unable to qualify for the final.

Clugnet and Young finished 10th in their semi-final, with only the top four teams progressing.

Norway's Erik Valnes and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the gold, finishing 2.46 seconds ahead of Finland's Iivo Niskanen and Joni Maki in silver. Russians Alexander Bolshunov and Alexander Terentev took bronze.

'Sometimes you want it too much' - Ryding

Austria's Johannes Strolz took silver behind Noel in the men's slalom to add to the combined gold he had already won at these Games and Norway's Sebastian Voss-Solevag rounded off the medal podium.

Ryding, who last month became the first Briton to win an alpine World Cup race, said: "There is always stress around performances and you sometimes want it too much.

"To do it every run is fine margins, and it's tough."

After four Winter Olympics, this looks like it is Ryding's final one but he added: "I've no regrets in my career.

"I always do what I can, put out what I have got.

"The Olympics won't define me because I have had a great career but you always want to top it off with something special. I think I have got another year, we'll keep going in the World Cup."

With six days of the Games in Beijing remaining, Great Britain have seen medal chances and hopes come and go so far. The last time they left a winter Games empty-handed was in Albertville in 1992.

Britain look extremely unlikely to match the five medals they won in both Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018, with UK Sport looking at a medal range of three to seven in these Olympics.

But there are still medal chances out there with the men's curling team guaranteed a shot at gold or bronze, plus two-woman and four-man bobsleigh, and Zoe Atkin and Gus Kenworthy in ski halfpipe.

'The athletes, more than anyone, are disappointed'

Georgie Harland, Team GB chef de mission, told BBC Sport that "some" of the country's results in Beijing had been "disappointing", but said reflection and analysis must be put on hold until after the Games.

"We'd love to be on the medal table, obviously, at this stage of the Games but I think the athletes more than anyone are disappointed with that," said Harland.

"If you look back we have had some really promising results looking to future but of course we are not going to shy away from some that are disappointing.

"Now is not the time to analyse and break those down. Absolutely that will happen after the Games but right now we are focusing on athletes still to compete."

On whether the GB athletes yet to compete feel extra pressure to deliver, Harland added: "The message is very clear. It is about their performance. There is no more pressure from the team or the nation.

"It is about them preparing as they know how to, having confidence and going out there. They are absolutely in a good place.

"We have a great team. They are no different to the people that stepped on the plane to come here. I still remain very confident in them."

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