Alice has stunned the ski racing world since she began racing on the World Cup circuit in 2018. She has represented New Zealand at two Olympic Winter Games (PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022). Alice has finished on nine World Cup podiums, including four in 2024, all in the discipline of Giant Slalom.
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympian, Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympian, 3 x Giant Slalom World Cup gold medallist, 5 x Giant Slalom World Cup silver medallist and 1 x Giant Slalom World Cup bronze medallist.
Alice achieved outstanding results in her first year of FIS racing, at the age of fifteen, achieving podium results at FIS, National Championship and ANC races. She was selected to represent NZ at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang and at 16 years old was the youngest member of the team.
Qualifying for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games was always going to be a long shot for 16-year-old ski racer Alice Robinson. The qualifying period for the games began on 1 July 2016 but it was not until a year later that Alice would be old enough to get a FIS licence and compete in the qualifying events. She would have just under seven months to make a case for selection.
Prior to July 2017 Alice was too young to compete in Continental Cup or World Cup events and was ineligible to compete at the 2017 World Ski Championships; all of these events formed part of the Snow Sports NZ nomination criteria.
“Starting my first year of FIS (open grade racing) this season, the idea of the Olympics seemed like a long shot, so I am so happy that my results over the past six months paid off and gave me a spot on the team,” says Alice. “When I think back to the start of the year I wouldn’t have thought that I would be selected, it’s a dream come true.”
With six months in hand Alice set about proving that she could satisfy the tough nomination and selection criteria by podiuming at her very first FIS (International Ski Federation) races with a win and a third-place finish in Giant Slalom at Cardrona, NZ.
The following month she claimed the women’s national Giant Slalom and Slalom titles at Coronet Peak in Queenstown and finished third in Giant Slalom at the Australia New Zealand Cup in Thredbo, Australia. At the start of the northern hemisphere season she won a North America Cup Giant Slalom in Panorama, Canada.
The progress Alice made within her first seven months of FIS racing is almost unprecedented in the world of alpine ski racing and highlights her as one to watch over the next few years. To put things in perspective, the USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin, Overall World Cup leader, is the only other athlete in FIS history who has progressed as fast as Alice in her first year as a FIS athlete.
Alice stunned the ski racing world during the 2018-19 northern hemisphere season, claiming NZ's first World Cup medal in 17 years. She finished in the silver medal position just 0.30s behind world number one Mikaela Shiffrin at the World Cup Finals Giant Slalom in Andorra. Alice earned her start at the World Cup Finals as the current Junior World Champion in Giant Slalom. Her string of impressive results also included a Europa Cup win and two Europa Cup silver medals, seventeenth place – including the fastest second run time – at the 2019 World Championships and a 16th-place finish at the World Cup in Spindleruv Mlyn, CZE in March 2019.
Alice started her 2019/20 season on a high, winning the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup Giant Slalom in Sölden, Austria. She is the youngest person ever to win a World Cup at this venue. This was NZ's first World Cup win since Claudia Riegler in 1997. In February 2020 she won her second World Cup, at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia. In the following FIS points list she moved into the world number one ranking, held jointly with Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), Petra Vlhona (SVK) and Federica Brignone (ITA).
In February 2020 she won the Sky Sport NZ Emerging Talent Award at the 57th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards. She was named Otago Junior Sportswoman of the Year in May 2020.
Alice continued her success in through the 2020/21 season, finishing in second place at the FIS World Cup Giant Slalom in Jasna, Slovakia, and taking the win at the final World Cup Giant Slalom of the season in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
She finished 4th in the Giant Slalom World Championships, equalling New Zealand's best ever Alpine World Championships result.
Alice competed in her first Downhill races in January 2022, placing 2nd in both the Downhill European Cups in France.
She represented New Zealand at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, where she competed in Giant Slalom, Super G and Downhill.
Alice had a hugely successful 2024 season, and at the time of writing this she has finished in second place at three Giant Slalom World Cup races (Kronplatz, Soldeu & Killington) and a third place finish in Jasna.
Check out more of Alice's results here, or follow her on social media.
