It has been a long grind to reach the World Cup tour for Roy Steudle, not to mention for the British team as a whole. Steudle’s season begins Thursday with the opening super-G of the World Cup season in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

For the first time in his career, he will race as an official member of the British World Cup squad, having competed independently for many years. With a new coach in Olivia Smith — one of the only female coaches on the men’s World Cup speed circuit — Steudle hopes this will be the season he moves toward a first Olympic qualification. He will also work with ski technician Georg Nusser, who remains with him from previous seasons and plays a central role in his equipment setup and confidence on race day.

The 32-year-old is the first downhiller of his generation to join the established British slalom trio of Dave Ryding, Billy Major and Laurie Taylor.

Route to the circuit

Steudle began skiing at age 3 while living in Whistler. “The way a British child would play soccer, we skied,” he said.

“Coming from Britain, doing speed is considerably harder,” he added. “As a grassroots skier everyone races on dry slope and indoor centres, which lean towards technical events. The opportunity to participate in speed, or the moments required to make a good speed skier, are far less prolific when competing for the UK.”

He said it became clear early in his development that he would lean toward the speed disciplines. “I had success in GS and then SG, and never in SL — so I had to carve my own path to the World Cup.”

The British switch

Despite being born in Germany and living much of his life in Canada, Italy and Austria, Steudle enrolled in a British school system. “Having spent my youth in an English-speaking culture, my German wasn’t good enough, so when I returned to Europe from Canada, a British school system made the most sense,” he said.

He received British citizenship after a few races for the British team. Although he attended school in the UK, most of his time was spent abroad pursuing skiing.

Career highlights

Steudle will make his 15th World Cup start on Thursday — and only his second in a World Cup super-G. He has raced at two World Ski Championships and scored a career-best 29th in the Saalbach World Championship super-G in February, a result made more impressive after he had picked up an injury in the downhill training run earlier that week.

His Europa Cup results last season earned him a return to the World Cup circuit and a place in the World Championship squad. He finished 29th and 17th — the latter a Europa Cup personal best — in the Pass Thurn downhills in the week leading up to the Hahnenkamm classic.

Thursday’s Copper race

This week’s super-G will be Steudle’s first race of the season and his first World Cup start since finishing just outside the top 30 in January’s Kitzbühel super-G — the closest he has come to ending Britain’s 18-and-a-half-year drought without men’s World Cup speed points.

In an interview with the Skiing is Believing podcast, Steudle said:
“Without a doubt, it’s a possibility. We’ve already showcased that last year, and I would say it’s a possibility based on my personal feeling.”

“Copper super-G is a brand-new venue, a brand-new hill, nobody’s raced, and there’s always a chance when you’re there.”

Bormio Olympics

The Olympic dream remains alive, with results leading into February likely to determine whether Great Britain sends the German-born racer to the Olympics in Bormio — a slope where he has yet to compete in a World Cup speed event.

World Cup points chase

Steudle knows it isn’t easy to score World Cup points, but he said he “feels good” heading into his opening race of the Olympic campaign. When asked about the prospect of finally breaking through, he added:
“It makes me emotional just thinking about it; I don’t know what I’d do.”

Britain’s last men’s World Cup speed points came in March 2007, when Finlay Mickel finished 25th in Kvitfjell just 18 months before the final World Cup race of his career. That drought could end on Thursday — and if not, Steudle believes this may be the season Britain finally breaks through, nearly 19 years after its last speed success.