Skiing: New Zealand's most successful skier Claudia Riegler on Alice Robinson's rise

Alice Robinson at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships on the 18th February 2021. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand's most successful World Cup skier, Claudia Riegler, first met Alice Robinson in New Zealand in 2018 and - before she had even seen the teenager ski - sensed she was something special.

Riegler, who has a New Zealand mum and an Austrian dad, was a star of the FIS World Cup circuit in the late 1990s. She won four World Cup slalom races and recorded eight podium finishes, reaching second in the world rankings behind Swedish great Pernilla Wiberg.

The now 45-year-old describes 19-year-old Robinson as having the fastest turn in women's giant slalom (GS) skiing.

"What Alice is achieving is definitely extra special," said Riegler, who represented New Zealand at three Winter Olympics.

Speaking to the Herald from her home near the French Alps in Annecy, Riegler says she is amazed at what Robinson has achieved on the FIS World Cup circuit with a fraction of the resources and benefits her rivals enjoy.

Queenstown skier Robinson won two World Cup GS races last season before Covid-19 hit, following on from the previous season when she clocked the second-fastest second run at the 2019 World Championships before winning the world junior championships GS and finishing second in the World Cup final that year, as a 17-year-old. She left for Europe in early August last year and has lived out of a suitcase since in Covid bubbles.

Alice Robinson and Claudia Riegler. Photo / Supplied

"I think this season, in particular, is very difficult with all the Covid testing and having to be in your bubble all the time," Riegler said. "For other people, their bubble is at home. I was super happy we could catch up ... my mum cooked a nice Kiwi homemade meal one night. I think that was really good for her just to be in a home and sit back and relax and have a home-cooked meal. That means so much as an athlete when you are always by yourself."

The first half of the season was a struggle for Robinson but in recent weeks she has been back to her best, finishing fourth in the GS at the Alpine World Championships in Cortina in Italy followed by a career-best 10th in the Super G discipline in a World Cup race.

A fortnight ago she clinched her first podium finish of the season in GS, coming second in Jasna in Slovakia.

Her final race of the season is on Sunday night in the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide in Switzerland.

Alice Robinson at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Rettenback Glacier, Soelden, Austria. Photo / Photosport

Riegler first met a 17-year-old Robinson in New Zealand in 2018 - the year before she became junior world champion.

Robinson's second run at the 2019 worlds in Sweden was the performance that rocketed her into the international skiing spotlight. She clocked the second-fastest time on the second run and finished 17th, but it was an incredible performance and a taste of what was to come.

As the favourite, Robinson won gold at the junior world championships in Italy to earn a spot at the prestigious World Cup finals, featuring the top 25 racers. And it was that race in Andorra that showcased the teenager's precocious talent.

She finished second in a field featuring the top 25 World Cup giant slalom skiers throughout the season.

And while Robinson is achieving incredible success in giant slalom now, Riegler senses it won't be too long before the results start coming in the speed events, notably super G.

"In girls' speed, there are not that many that are good. It's harder to win GS, the density is a lot higher, but in speed, if you are technically amazing like Alice is and you get the experience and have the guts, it's the bingo scenario. Super G, that's where I see her winning the most," Riegler said.

"There are a lot of variables in skiing but if she stays healthy and injury-free, we will see a lot from her, and I think in speed events in super G she can be even stronger than GS. In GS when she is in the flow, I would say her GS turn is the fastest on the circuit. The way she pushes through the turn and can accelerate is impressive."

When Riegler was competing for New Zealand she had the best of both worlds. She based herself at Coronet Peak during the New Zealand winter and then at her home in Austria during the World Cup season.

"Austria wanted to get me back, but New Zealand was just as much a home country as Austria," she said. "It wasn't an easy choice to make to go from a superpower to paying everything yourself. But I am so happy I could spend way more time in NZ with my family and friends and that part of my heritage.

"Otherwise, it would not have been possible because once you are in the [Austrian] ski team you don't get to go places, not New Zealand unless for training reasons. It was good for me to be able to live in NZ and then in Austria.

"I started winning young too, but it has a lot to do with staying healthy. For me it wasn't an injury that curtailed my career, I got really sick, and I had problems taking time off and thinking I had to push further, and it slowed me down and made me stop for a while. In those days we were not good at recovery."

Alice Robinson (middle) on the podium at the FIS Alpine Giant Slalom ANC Race during the Winter Games NZ at Coronet Peak. Photo / Photosport

Unlike skiers for the big European nations, who have full-time support staff, Robinson has a small, dedicated team headed by her Christchurch-born co-coach, Chris Knight.

He used to coach American superstar Lindsay Vonn and Riegler is impressed with what they have been able to achieve with limited resources.

Living in Covid-ravaged France, Riegler has seen first-hand how difficult it is for athletes living and travelling from event to event in Europe this season. While Robinson went into the campaign with high expectations, Riegler is adamant the Covid-19 situation affected her performances as she adjusted to living life in a bubble.

"When you know what she has been through this season and how tough everything else has been this year, I think that was an amazing step forward from being a young racer winning to becoming a more serious racer who has had setbacks and is starting to win again," she said.