Sarah Cowley Ross for LockerRoom
For years it was a running joke between best friends – that one day, Alex Hull would qualify as a physiotherapist and join Alice Robinson on the World Cup ski circuit.
Today, the joke is a reality – with Hull now in her third season on tour as Robinson’s physiotherapist and a key part of ‘Team Alice’ as the pair prepare for the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
“This is my dream – all I’ve wanted to be is a physio since I was 12 years old,” says Hull.
“Helping your best friend achieve everything she has to date is very surreal.”
Robinson heads into her third Olympics with a target on her race bib after winning silver at the 2025 world championships, becoming the first Kiwi alpine racer to ever bring home a world champs medal.
In the current 2026 FIS World Cup standings, Robinson is second in the Super G (the Super giant slalom speed event held over one run) and fifth in the giant slalom (the fastest technical alpine event held over two runs). And she knows she can ski fast.
“She could be the fastest for sure,” says Hull.
Like many great Kiwi connections, Hull and Robinson went to primary school together in Queenstown. Meeting at age seven, they clicked straight away, and as two sporty kids they were in same ski holiday programme.
A talented age-group alpine racer in her own right, Hull recalls being sent to the physio for a musculoskeletal examination as part of the national junior ski programme, and leaving feeling empowered.
“I remember walking out the door and saying to my mum, ‘I want to be a physio when I finish ski racing’,” she says.
By her own account, Hull ‘gave it a good crack’, travelling the world from a young age to chase competition, good snow and mountain air. “I love going fast and I love the competitive side of ski racing,” she says.
Hull ended up spending a lot more time as a physio patient, when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in 2017, her first season on the FIS Circuit.
The major injury taught her how injuries aren’t just about the physical; the mental side of recovery is huge to overcome, Hull reflects.
“Through my ACL recovery, it solidified what I wanted to do. I was so inspired by how physios can help athletes and people perform better.”
With an empathetic, fun nature combined with coaching experience as both a ski instructor and ski racing coach at the Coberger Ski Academy in Queenstown, Hull has another level of understanding to help alpine athletes.
After graduating from Auckland University of Technology Physiotherapy School in 2022, Hull spent a few years working in Auckland in a private musculoskeletal practice. Then came a call from Robinson: “Do you still want to come on tour with me?”
From travelling the world together as young ski racers, Hull began touring with Robinson supporting her as her physiotherapist.
The schedule is intense. When LockerRoom spoke with Hull, the team were in the Czech Republic for the Spindleruv Mlyn World Cup. A week later, Robinson raced in Switzerland at Crans Montana, and now they’re in Italy for the final preparation at Robinson’s third Olympic Games.
The tight Team Alice also includes head coach Nils Coberger (brother of 1992 Olympic slalom silver medallist Annelise Coberger), who manages the group; assistant coach Tim Cafe; and serviceman Michi Haas, who fine-tunes Robinson’s skis.
“Tim actually coached Alice and I when we were eight years old,” says Hull. “We’re all like a little family on the road.”
Hull is in charge of Robinson’s physical therapy and assists in the implementation of her strength and conditioning programme, created by Ben Griffin back in Queenstown.
“We all have different roles in the team that for the most part we’ve naturally fallen into and we all work really well together,” Hull says.
On a typical race day, Team Alice will head straight up the hill and into course inspections, keeping their routine consistent.
“Alice will inspect the course at a slow speed, checking the snow conditions and the lines she needs to ski,” says Hull, who will warm up with Robinson.
She’ll be at the start line with Robinson to help her go through her processes and in between runs will do some mobility work if required.
“Five to ten minutes out, we’re making jokes and having a laugh but there’s a method behind that for sure,” laughs Hull. But when Robinson needs to flick the switch, her best mate says she’s incredible.
“She had a lot of early success winning her first World Cup at 17, and then had some rocky years. She learnt a lot through that process about how to manage pressure.”
As Robinson has built up to her two events at Milano-Cortina, the focus has been on calmness and clarity – approaching the Olympics with the same processes that underpin her World Cup racing.
Hull is consistent in reinforcing routine, while fully understanding the magnitude of what lies ahead for her friend and the team around her.
“The Olympics is such an honour,” she says. “It’s huge – but at the same time, it’s still Alice doing what she’s always done: skiing fast, having fun, trusting her preparation and trusting the people around her.”
For Hull, that trust is both professional and deeply personal – a full-circle moment that began on the ski fields of Queenstown and now plays out on the world’s biggest stage.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.