Robinson who is already one of the best in the world in GS, having won three World Cup races in the discipline, has made significant strides in Super G, scoring her first top 10 result last season. But mastering the ultimate speed event, downhill, is the final piece in the puzzle which would allow the Queenstown skier to one day pursue the overall World Cup title. Realistically skiers need to compete in at least three of the five World Cup disciplines to be able to earn enough points to contend.
In downhill, skiers reach speeds in excess of 140 kilometres per hour. So spending quality time with Vonn was a massive opportunity for Robinson and the young Kiwi soaked up the advice.
"Lindsay was watching me and giving me tips and just helping me work on basic stuff like my tuck and the kind of key components of speed with subtlety and having that kind of longer arc and the way she kind of used to figure it out and she was sharing some of that with me which was super valuable."
Ten days on downhill skis have given Robinson confidence that when she finally competes in a race (expected to be early January) she will approach it without fear.
"Yeah, I think I definitely made a lot of improvements I think I really enjoy doing the downhill I felt super confident on the downhill skis and was actually just having so much fun, so I think my technique and the way I manage speeds definitely improved a lot even over just 10 days of speed." Robinson said.
The last few days have been spent on Giant Slalom skis ahead of this week's second World Cup GS of the season and Robinson says training for three disciplines keeps her fresh.
Robinson's co-coach Chris Knight said the three weeks at Copper Mountain were a resounding success.
"It was very important because we missed all our speed training in New Zealand in August and September. It was downhill and Super G to start with and we had with all the top men and women from around the world and it's just very valuable."
This weekend though it is back to GS and a chance for Robinson to improve on her 11th place finish in the season opener in Solden in Austria last month. Robinson has made no secret of her desire to contend for the overall World Cup GS Globe this season and with just nine races in the discipline, realises results like Solden need to be the exception, not the norm.
She felt she might have been a bit too tense ahead of the opening race, carrying a lot of expectation after winning the final race of last season at the World Cup Finals in Switzerland.
"I think I was a bit too tense in Solden and it was a really big kind of build up to the first race and I feel more relaxed now and a bit more chilled and am feeling good on my skis so I'm just going to try and put my best skiing out there and see where it puts me."
American Mikaela Shiffrin tops the GS standings ahead of Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami after the season opener and will be a warm favourite on home soil.
But Robinson's Kiwi co-coach Knight is upbeat about her chances in her final race as a teenager (she turns 20 on December the 1st).
"The last few days we were really happy with how she jumped back on the GS skis. We had the opportunity to ski with a lot of the top girls in GS the last few days too and time against them and see where she's at and we have some confidence for the weekend."
The first run is timed to go at 4am NZT on Sunday with the second run from 7am.
Two years ago, Robinson failed to finish the Killington GS the last time it was held when she was underdone coming off an injury break following her sensational maiden world cup victory as a 17-year-old at Solden.
"Alice still needs to get confidence from training going into a race and she has that now. We've had good preparation, the only thing we don't know what to expect is the snow conditions and weather because it's so unpredictable in Vermont. There is no snow other than the race hill at this time of the year. They only got the hill ready for the race earlier this week. 10 days ago, it was green, but they have an incredible snow making system there and managed to get it ready just in time." Knight said.
