This article was originally published by Snow Sports NZ on 31 January 2024.
Snow Sports NZ athlete Alice Robinson (Queenstown, 22) has finished in second place at FIS Giant Slalom World Cup held in Kronplatz, Italy overnight.
Robinson carried her momentum from last week’s third place finish in Jasná and today’s result marks the eighth World Cup podium of her career. She shared the second step of the podium with Sweden’s Sara Hector, who she tied for second place.
Clear skies and temperature of -6 Celsius provided great conditions for the athletes, with Robinson’s coach Nils Coberger setting the 42 gate course for the first run.
Robinson explained; “The slope is challenging because there is a lot of terrain, it is flat at the top then goes into steep sections, it has rolls and a sidehill – a bit of everything so it’s quite challenging, but it’s a really awesome slope and it’s fun to ski.”
Robinson attacked run one with her trademark powerful skiing. She had the greenlight for the first section and then maintained a solid pace through the remainder of the course to finish run one +0.59 behind run one leader Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland.
Robinson said, “This isn’t a slope I have ever felt particularly comfortable or really confident at, so I am really happy to have a solid first run. There are definitely areas I can bring up the intensity and risk a bit more, but it was a good start.”
Robinson appeared to do just that for her second run, setting an incredible pace, particularly through the first two sections. As the slope rolled over onto the steeper pitch Robinson held it together well and skied a tactical run to take the leader’s chair, tied with Hector. Gut-Behrami extended her already impressive run one lead to take the win today by -1.09 seconds.
Robinson said, “It’s amazing to get two podiums in a row. My best result here [in Kronplatz] in the past has been eighth so it feels really good to get on the podium and get second place here. It’s always special and quite fun to tie for podium position, so it’s really cool to share the podium with Sara and Lara skied really well today, she is skiing awesome at moment, she is really on form.”
The next stop on the Giant Slalom World Cup circuit is on the 10th of February in Soldeu, Andorra. This is an event that Robinson particularly looks forward to, as it is the venue where she achieved her career first World Cup podium in 2019.
