Great Britain’s Olympic skiers launch emergency appeal after funding cut

Great Britain’s Olympic alpine skiers have issued a cry for help following funding cuts they say could spell an early end to their careers.

Beijing 2022 flag-bearer Dave Ryding and Charlie Guest, who in January recorded Britain’s best result for a female on the World Cup Slalom tour in 33 years, are among five athletes who were told their discipline would be axed from the World Class Programme.

According to UK Sport, WCP funding is allocated to national governing bodies to “support sports and athletes with realistic medal capabilities at Olympic Games”.

Without that backing the group, which also includes Billy Major, Laurie Taylor and Charlie Raposo, is facing the daunting prospect of needing to raise £800,000 in eight weeks, when the current cycle ends, to cover the shortfall.

“My stomach just sunk,” Guest told the PA news agency. “I’m in skiing, I’m very used to raising money, to finding money, to finding sponsors, but to have to find hundreds of thousands was something that was… I was just like, ‘I don’t know how I can do that.’

“It’s something I’ve been training in for 17 years, and I’m just like, ‘I don’t want this to be the end. This can’t be the end’.

“There are plenty of times when you’re like, ‘Why am I doing this? I should just go home, I could just go and finish my degree, I could just get a job or whatever’. And then you have one good race and you start thinking, ‘Yeah, actually I love doing this. I’m so proud to be part of this team’.

“It’s sad. We’re a bunch of individuals that poured everything we had into this sport, and it’s an inspiring bunch as well.”

Guest was part of the British team that finished just two places out of the medals, joint fifth, in the first-ever Olympic mixed team alpine event at