Incredible start to the season for Laurie Taylor!

Taylor, who is sponsored by the Ski Club of Great Britain this season, sat 15th after the first run, four places behind fellow Brit Dave Ryding in 11th. With a mid-pack start number for run two and the confidence of breaking into the top 15, he set himself up perfectly for an all-out charge.

Three Brits progressed to the second run with Ryding in 11th, Taylor in 15th and Billy Major in 19th. Luca Carrick-Smith also made his World Cup debut in Levi. Although he did not complete the course, his opening split showed real promise.

Major was first out of the British trio for run two. It was not the run he had hoped for, but 27th place still marks a solid start to the season.

Taylor followed with a blistering second run that put him in the leader’s chair for an extended spell. Ryding could not match his teammate’s pace and finished 7th. Then came the agonising wait. Ultimately, Finnish skier Eduard Hallberg edged ahead of Taylor by just 0.04 seconds, denying him a maiden podium by the narrowest of margins.

The race was won by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, securing Brazil’s first-ever FIS World Cup victory. Clement Noel finished second, with Hallberg completing the podium.

Speaking to Skiracing.com, Taylor was ecstatic: “It’s pretty crazy, to be honest. Training has been going really well for all of us, and to piece it together in the first race feels amazing. Billy and I have learned so much from Dave over the years, and with this being his last season, it feels like it’s our time to step up and keep British skiing moving forward. We’re always the underdogs, but we’ve got the skiers and the capability — sometimes it just takes us a bit longer. It’s a real lesson in perseverance: keep going, keep going, it’s always possible.”

Teammate Ryding was very complimentary about Taylor when speaking to skiracing.com: “Give me a top 10 to start the season and I’ll take it any day of the week. The most important thing in the first race is getting points on the board, and we’re up and running. Seeing Laurie take fourth and having three Brits in the top 30 shows the form we’re in. These boys have pushed me for years — I’m still going because of them. We’re probably the least-funded team on the World Cup, but every year we step up, and today we were better than Austria and Switzerland. It’s a really sweet day for British skiing.”

Taylor, Ryding and Major will be back in action in Obergurgl on the 23rd November 2025.