Alice Robinson returns to giant slalom podium in Italy

New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates her second place in Kronplatz, Italy. Photo / AP

Skier Alice Robinson has recorded her third podium finish of the giant slalom World Cup season after a strong showing in Kronplatz, Italy.

The Kiwi finished second equal with Swede Sara Hector more than a second behind Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami.

It’s the eighth World Cup podium of Robinson’s career and shows a strong return to form after a second placing in USA in November, ending an almost three year drought, followed by a third in Slovakia two weeks ago.

Gut-Behrami’s victory on the steep Erta course trimmed Mikaela Shiffrin’s lead in the overall standings to 95 points with the American out injured.

Shiffrin crashed in a downhill over the weekend in nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo and avoided major injury after hitting the safety nets at high speed but was still banged up and hasn’t raced since. Shiffrin led Gut-Behrami by 420 points before she crashed.

Gut-Behrami won a super-G in Cortina on Sunday and extended her advantage atop the giant slalom standings following GS wins in Soelden, Austria, and Killington, Vermont, at the start of the season.

With her 42nd career victory, Gut-Behrami moved level with Anja Pärson in sixth place on the all-time women’s victory list. Among Swiss women, only Vreni Schneider has more wins with 55.

Shiffrin holds the record with 95 wins and broke Lindsey Vonn’s previous women’s mark of 82 victories with a triumph at Kronplatz last year — then won another GS the following day on the Erta.

This was the first tech race (slalom or giant slalom) that Shiffrin has missed since Lienz, Austria, in December 2021 when she tested positive for the coronavirus.

Because of a series of crashes, other top giant slalom skiers are also out injured, including Petra Vlhova (torn right knee ligaments), Valerie Grenier (left shoulder and knee) and Michelle Gisin (right tibia).