Winter Olympics 2022 - Dave Ryding and Eve Muirhead selected as Team GB flag bearers for Beijing opening ceremony

World Cup winning alpine skier Dave Ryding and Sochi 2014 curling bronze medallist Eve Muirhead have been selected as Team GB’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. They will carry the union flag into the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing, as the second pair chosen by Britain to do so following a switch to one male and one female athlete for Tokyo 2020.

Ad/> Ryding and Muirhead are both competing at their fourth Olympics and go into the Games in superb form. Ryding recently became the first British alpine skier to win a World Cup event with victory in Kitzbuhel, while Muirhead — who is looking to better her bronze from eight years ago — recently won the European Championships with her women’s rink.

Beijing 2022IOC president Bach to meet Peng inside Olympic 'closed loop'3 HOURS AGO “It’s very special, I never thought I would get asked and when I did, it was the best feeling,” Muirhead told Eurosport. “I feel very honoured and privileged to accept and be one of the flag bearers.

It’s going to be a very special evening, getting the chance to lead the athletes out from Great Britain will be a moment I’ll never forget.” Ryding has seen his stock rise in recent weeks, following his historic achievement in Kitzbuhel. He goes into the Games as a genuine medal contender in the slalom, at the age of 35 and having grown up learning to ski on a dry slope in Lancashire.

“I think I’m still in shock, still processing the whole thing and making sure I don’t make a mockery of myself doing it,” he told Eurosport. «I’ve not done a bicep curl in about 10 years, I’m certainly no Sir Chris Hoy, doing it with one arm, I’m going to need an extra holster to back me up! “Immensely proud, I never dreamt of it, I never thought