Top 15 sporting moments of 2019 - No 10 - Alice Robinson makes history

New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria. Photo / AP

Radio Sport Mornings' host Jason Pine counts down the top 15 sporting moments of the year. Today: Number 10 - Alice Robinson Makes History

Just 18 months ago, teenagers Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott set the NZ snow sports scene alight with medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Alongside them, was New Zealand's youngest ever Winter Olympian, Alice Robinson. Who at just 16 years and 70 days finished 35th out of 81 skiers in the giant slalom - the best result for a New Zealander in giant slalom at the Olympics since Fiona Johnson and Anna Archibald finished 30th and 32nd at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York.

With rising promise, Robinson made headlines in February this year.

At the 2019 World Championships at Åre in Sweden, at age 17, she won the U21 category and finished 17th in the ladies' giant slalom, having the fastest time in the second run. This was the best result for a New Zealand alpine ski racer since Claudia Riegler and Annelise Coberger.

Less than a week later, at the Junior World Championships in Val di Fassa, Italy, Robinson won the giant slalom by more than a second, becoming the first New Zealander to win a gold medal in the 38-year history of the Junior World Championships.

Then, on March 17, 2019, Robinson competed at the World Cup Final Giant Slalom held in Grandvalira Soldeu, Andorra. She earned the right to compete in the Finals by virtue of winning the Junior World Championships Giant Slalom the month prior.

At aged 17 she finished on the podium at the World Cup for the first time in her career, finishing 0.30 s behind Mikaela Shiffrin - the gold medalist in the slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

This silver medal was the first podium at a FIS Alpine World Cup for a New Zealand athlete since Claudia Riegler in Slalom in 2002.

Her achievements at the start of 2019, would help propel her into what would be a history-making start to the 2020 season in October.

Robinson began the 2020 season ranked a career best 10th in the World in Giant Slalom.

After winning a number of New Zealand and Australian events, she travelled to Austria for the first Alpine World Cup race.

On 26 October 2019, on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, Austria, Robinson defeated reigning World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin by 0.06 seconds for the gold medal.

This is the first World Cup victory in any discipline for a New Zealander since Claudia Riegler in 1997, and the first-ever women's World Cup giant slalom victory for a skier from New Zealand.

She also became the youngest woman from any nation to win the Sölden World Cup race. It was later revealed that she won this race while suffering from bone bruising to the knee following a training crash in the lead up.

Robinson, who trailed Shiffrin by 0.14 seconds after the opening run, was one-fifth of a second faster than the American in the final run. She won her first World Cup race in only her 11th start. Watched by 14,000 spectators and racing under clear blue skies, Robinson was a champion.

Shiffrin was full of praise for her rival, who, like herself in 2011, won her first World Cup race at age 17.

"You could see it last year that Alice is going to be really strong," Shiffrin said. "It's super cool and really exciting. She skied really solid so it's awesome."

All eyes remain on Robinson who - at such a young age - has so much still left ahead of her. Yet another snow sport accolade in a burgeoning area of New Zealand sport.

Top 15 sporting moments of 2019
No 15 - Eliud Kipchoge's sub-two hour marathon
No 14 - The Rise of Bianca Andreescu
No 13 - Courtney Duncan becomes MX World Champion
No 12 - The Ashes
No 11 - Mark Rudan's exit from the Phoenix