British skier Dave Ryding finishes sixth in World Cup in Italy

Ryding competed in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics but did not make the podium at either

Great Britain's Dave Ryding finished in a season's-best sixth in the men's World Cup slalom race in Italy.

The 31-year-old, who was 10th after the opening run, improved in his second run at Madonna di Campiglio for a combined time of one minute 40.03 seconds.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher won in 1:39.79, even though he made a slight error on his second run, to go top of the overall World Cup standings.

Luca Aerni (1:39.83) was second, with Henrik Kristoffersen (1:39.84) third.

The result matches his third best-ever World Cup finish, only bettered by January's second at Kitzbuhel and fourth in Stockholm.

Meanwhile, at the Halfpipe World Cup in China, Peter Speight claimed a career-high fourth while Xander Glavatsky-Yeadon also had his best-ever result in eighth and in the ladies event, Molly Summerhayes was ninth in qualifying, missing the final by 0.8 points.

Speight, who qualified ninth, improved on every run, progressing from sixth, to fifth and finally fourth, impressing the judges with solid grabs and amplitude.

He finished fewer than two points off the podium for the best-ever result for a British male in Ski Halfpipe World Cups.

"My skiing came together today and I'm really stoked to be have been able to step things up in finals," he said. "I'm not getting ahead of myself as it's just one result but I'm really happy.

"I'll be looking to build on this going into the rest of the season and keep stepping things up."

There was also a first World Cup top-10 finish for Tyler Harding in the men's slopestyle at the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in France.