David Ryding (born 5 December 1986) is an English World Cup alpine ski racer who specialises in slalom.

Widely considered to be the greatest British skier of all time, he has competed for Great Britain in four Olympics, seven World Championships, and won the Europa Cup Slalom Series in 2013.

Ryding grew up in Bretherton, Lancashire and attended Runshaw College and Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy[2] Born in Bretherton, Lancashire, England, Ryding started competing on dry ski slopes at age eight, first skied on snow at twelve, and continued racing on dry slopes until age 21.

[10] Glasse-Davies suggested after the 2010 Olympics that Ryding should work on his technique by training in indoor snow parks.

[3] Ryding scored his first ever World Cup points in the opening slalom race of the 2013 season, finishing 26th place in Levi, Finland in November 2012.

This was his first ever top ten finish in a World Cup race, and the best result for a British alpine ski racer since Alain Baxter's fourth place in Åre in 2001.

[24] In an interview later that year, Ryding said that as he had never completed two runs at Kitzbühel, he had engaged in extensive video analysis of Fritz Dopfer's fastest first run in the previous year's Hahnenkamm slalom ahead of the race, watching it "70 times at least" to observe how Dopfer adapted to the piste's terrain changes.

[27] Ryding took his first points in the season in Val-d'Isère in December, but was disappointed with his 19th place finish in a race that was affected by heavy snowfall.

Ryding's run to the semi-finals included knocking out overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher in the quarter-finals.

Ryding competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongchang, South Korea in the slalom, and was heavily touted as a potential British medal contender, including by former ski racer and pundit Graham Bell, with hopes of becoming Britain's first Olympic alpine skiing medallist.

This was the best Olympic result for a British alpine skier since Martin Bell's eighth place in the men's downhill in 1988.

He lost out in the final to Marco Schwarz after missing a gate, but his second place equalled his career best World Cup result from 2017.

[43][44] He followed this up later in the month with an eighth place finish in Schladming, before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January, Ryding took his third career World Cup podium in Adelboden and his first in classic slalom since 2017, finishing third after moving up from eighth after the first run, and was just 0.15 seconds behind winner Marco Schwarz.

[51] The 2022 World Cup season would prove to be Ryding's most successful to date, including the first win of his career.

[55] He was also the first Briton to win at Kitzbühel's Hahnenkamm Races since Gordon Cleaver's victory in the combined event at the first edition in 1931, before the establishment of the World Cup.

Ryding heavily criticised the decision, telling the BBC, "we have all gone out there on to the world stage and consistently delivered record results over the last 12 months."

[68] The following month, he took his seventh World Cup podium in Madonna di Campiglio, finishing in third and rising from 15th after the first run.

This meant he ended the season in seventh in the slalom World Cup standings, his highest ever finish.

[72] Ryding's younger sister, Joanna, was also a competitive skier who won several FIS Races before retiring after a crash in 2011.