Great Britain enjoyed a stellar start to the Alpine ski World Cup season as Laurie Taylor achieved a career-best fourth-place finish in the first men’s slalom race of the year.
The race in Levi, Lapland also produced Britain’s best-ever combined performance at a World Cup, with veteran Dave Ryding – competing in his final season – seventh.
And with the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina next year rapidly approaching it was the perfect time to produce it.
It is only the second time Britain has achieved two top-10 finishers in a World Cup event, with Ryding finishing seventh in Aspen in March 2024, which also featured Taylor’s best result until now, an eight-place finish.
Levi was historic on multiple fronts. Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who switched to representing his mother’s native country in 2024 having previously raced for Norway, sealed Brazil’s first-ever World Cup win.
Pinheiro Braathen, the overall slalom World Cup winner in 2023, was the last to complete his second run in Finland and withstood the pressure – having set the best time in his opening run – to beat France’s Clement Noel by 0.31 seconds.
Taylor had led for most of the second run, having significantly improved on his first run which left him in 15th place.
The 29-year-old was ultimately pushed off the podium by just four-hundredths of a second, with local hero Eduard Hallberg pipping him to bronze and the first podium of his career.
Taylor told BBC Sport: “It felt amazing, I had no idea that was where I was going to end up.
“The run felt solid and in charge. I just kept climbing [in the standings], it was quite surreal. It’s a huge confidence boost for the rest of the season.
“I’ve been working so hard for so long, so to break in like that to fourth, it really means the world.”
GB’s men’s slalom coach Jai Geyer said: “That’s the best start to the season we’ve had as a team, with something we’ve never done before here – two in the top seven – so we’re all pumped, great for the team. What a solid start.”
Levi, the first of 11 slalom races on the World Cup circuit, also marked the first time Britain had entered four skiers in a race on the tour. Billy Major finished 27th and 20-year-old debutant Luca Carrick-Smith did not finish.
On Saturday Mikaela Shiffrin extended her record-winning haul of World Cup wins to 102, clocking the fastest time on both runs to beat 19-year-old Albanian Lara Colturi by 1.66 seconds. Germany’s Emma Aicher was third.
