Winter Sports: British alpine skiers criticise decision to remove funding

Dave Ryding won Britain's first alpine skiing World Cup gold medal in January

British alpine skiers have criticised the decision to remove the team from the World Class Programme funding.

Skiing was one of eight sports to share £24.2m in funding from UK Sport before the 2026 Winter Games.

However, GB Snowsport says alpine, cross-country and Para-nordic skiing have been deemed "not investible" for the top level of funding by UK Sport.

Five alpine athletes now say they will need to find £800,000 over the next eight weeks to continue their training.

Of that £24.2m funding, ski and snow received £7.2m, while Para-ski and -snow received £4.7m.

They received £6.75m and £3.5m respectively in the previous funding cycle for 2018-22.

Dave Ryding, who won Britain's first alpine skiing World Cup gold medal in January, is one of five athletes to lose their funding.

He, Charlie Guest, Billy Major, Laurie Taylor and Charlie Raposo released a video across their social media channels to highlight the issue.

A small fund has been ringfenced for Ryding but the athletes say it will not be enough to cover his coaching.

"We have all gone out there on to the world stage and consistently delivered record results over the last 12 months," Ryding said.

"This is the first time in British history that five athletes have achieved top 30 placings in a World Cup season, and we believe this is a trend that is set to continue.

"We have more than enough potential to be topping podiums for the next eight years."

Guest, who finished 13th in January to register the best result by a British woman on the World Cup slalom tour since 1989, said the depth and talent within the discipline is at "an all-time high".

"It is extremely disappointing that UK Sport has decided to remove this funding - for us now and [for] future Alpine winners from GB," she said.

GB Snowsport said it was "urgently exploring all other options" to continue the programmes.

"UK Sport has deemed the three disciplines to not be investible for World Class Programme funding," a statement read.

"We know this will be extremely dispiriting for everybody who supports and is involved with British alpine, cross-country and Para-nordic skiing at every level.

"We feel it is important to take this opportunity to reaffirm our continued belief in the internationally competitive potential of all three disciplines and our commitment to exploring every avenue available to us."

UK Sport said it "was aiming to become an ever greater force in winter sport, while powering a broader range of sports and champions who reflect the diversity of British society".

It added: "We recognise GB Snowsport and some of their athletes will be disappointed by our recent investment decisions, but our investment going forward for snowsport is now more targeted, with a focus on the freestyle ski and snowboard disciplines, albeit not exclusively."