Alice Robinson (Queenstown, 22) has claimed a third-place finish at the FIS Giant Slalom World Cup held in Jasna, Slovakia overnight (NZT).
Tonight’s race marked the seventh Giant Slalom World Cup of the 2023/24 FIS World Cup season. The course was exceptionally firm, causing problems for some of the top athletes who struggled to find their purchase on the slick snow surface.
However, the conditions suited Snow Sports NZ athlete Robinson perfectly. She pushed out the start gate and immediately attacked the course with her trademark fearless skiing.
Robinson explained, “The conditions are definitely the best conditions we’ve had all year and the crowd is probably one of the best crowds we have had all year too. I am really excited to be on the podium today and to back up being on the podium last time I was here – it’s really cool.”
Robinson delivered a powerful first run tonight, engaging her skis early in the turn and clocking solid splits throughout her run. After run one she was sitting in third position, +1.05 seconds off the leader Olympic Champion Sara Hector of Sweden and just +0.05 seconds behind alpine ski racing legend Mikaela Shiffrin of the USA, who was sitting in second.
With the start order flipped for run two, Robinson was the third to last athlete to take their second run.
“I think my first run was better, in my second run I was thinking I had to push and I went out and made a couple of mistakes at the start and thought to myself maybe I need to reel it in a little bit. Although my first run was better I am really happy I held onto a podium spot in the second run.” – Robinson.
Sitting in the top spot with just Shiffrin and Hector to go, Robinson knew she had secured a podium result, but the podium order was still to be determined by the final two athletes.
Shiffrin put down an impressive run, but the huge +1.00 second advantage that Hector had from her first run put her so far out in front that no one could catch her.
Hector further extended her advantage with an excellent second run, claiming the win +1.52 seconds ahead of Shiffrin who finished in second. Robinson rounded out the podium in third, +2.17 seconds behind Hector.
Tonight’s result marks Robinson’s seventh World Cup podium of her career and her second podium of the 2023/24 FIS World Cup tour. It is also the second time she has finished on the podium at this event – she had a second place finish in Jasna in 2021.
We will next see Robinson in action next weekend back on her speed skis at the FIS Super G World Cup in Cortina, Italy.
3 months ago