27th February 2010
Team GB’s Dave Ryding and Andy Noble both ended their first Olympic Winter Games on a high note by climbing up the rankings to secure top-30 finishes in the slalom.
Lancashire’s Ryding ended his campaign by climbing from 33rd to 27th on his second run, while Noble, from Edinburgh, rose from 32nd to 29th.
Ryding, who had finished 47th in the giant slalom in his first Vancouver 2010 competition earlier in the week, said: "I gave it everything today, I couldn't have asked for any more from myself.
"I thought I skied some great sections here, but I haven't really had any clean runs,” he added. “The important thing is to learn from my experience here.
“Slalom is so competitive at the moment that you have to risk everything.
"This has been an experience for me. Hopefully in four years time I can get rid of the mistakes and I can let it rip,” he said.
Ryding recorded a time of 51.58 in his opening run and followed that up with 53.55 on his second to finish 5.81 seconds behind the winning time of Italy’s’ Giuliani Razzoli, who took gold.
Noble (pictured) said he was pleased with his 29th place. "I'm definitely happy with that. I've really enjoyed my time at the Games. Apart from the bottom two-thirds of the last run I've been pretty relaxed.
“I thought I started quite well on that last run, but then I made a mistake and I locked up a bit and got nervous.
"Skiing is a very tough sport. It's very competitive and coming from a non-Alpine nation makes it harder. It's a sport that takes a long time to master."
Noble was Team GB’s highest placed finisher in the giant slalom on Tuesday in 36th. His time of 51.55 for his first slalom run today put him 32nd and he followed that up with 54.58 to end his campaign in 29th. He finished 6.81 seconds off the gold medallist.
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