New Zealand's youngest ever Winter Olympian Alice Robinson will compete in her second Games in Beijing. Photo / Photosport
Thirty years after Annelise Coberger won New Zealand's first ever Winter Olympics medal with silver in slalom at the Albertville Games, Alice Robinson is well placed to add to that sole Olympic alpine skiing medal when she competes in her specialist Giant Slalom at the Beijing Games on Monday.
Robinson, 20, has won three World Cup races in the discipline since bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old, a year after finishing 34th at the Pyeongchang Olympics aged 16. While Robinson hasn't been her best in competition in the discipline this season, her best finish being 11th in the opening race in Austria, the word from Beijing is she's at her explosive best and is skiing like a 'Ninja' again.
Former New Zealand skier Claudia Riegler made her name in slalom in the 90s and early 2000s, winning four World Cup races and competed in three Winter Olympics. She insists Robinson is primed to produce something special.
"I'm not at all worried about Alice. She's got everything it takes to win a medal or even become Olympic champion in Beijing. There's absolutely no doubt about that," Riegler told the Herald.
"I think this season has been pretty bizarre for her. But then last season, she had a bizarre season as well, with Covid, not being able to go home and then she won the World Cup finals after a lot of setbacks. Alice is a winner and she's going to do everything possible to be on that podium."
It's 12 days since the Queenstown skier's last race, a disappointing 13th in Kronplatz in Italy, but Robinson is confident she has made the necessary adjustments to perform at her best on a new course, created entirely from man-made snow.
"It's been pretty epic and the facilities are super impressive," Robinson told the Herald from her base at the Alpine skiing venue in Yanqing.
"The snow has been really good. It's kind of dry. So quite aggressive because it's so cold. I wouldn't say it's been the best snow for me in the past, but I've had a few days training on it. And I've been feeling pretty good. I think it's going to be a really good surface and a good level playing field because I don't think it's going to deteriorate."
While she hasn't achieved the kind of results she would have liked on the World Cup circuit in GS this season, one thing Robinson hasn't lacked is speed, with one or two mistakes costing her places on the podium. She's also had Covid which caused her to miss two Giant Slalom races in France prior to Christmas.
"It's been an interesting season," Robinson said. "It's been tough, with Covid kind of knocking me around for a little bit. I've been kind of trying to get on top of that, and also bringing in Super G and Downhill, I've been doing a lot of speed this year, which I've been really enjoying.
"But I'm feeling good on my skis again. I've had some really good training days, and I think I've just got to focus on doing the best performance I can and skiing my best and just seeing where that puts me."
Robinson has revealed she has also worked hard with her ski technician Pepe Culver to have her skis primed for the different snow conditions they are experiencing in China and the tweaks have paid off.
"I've just changed a few things with my GS setup after the last race and have gone back to some of my older setups which has been working a bit better especially with this snow it's a little bit different as well, so I have just been trying to iron this out and it's been working."
Robinson believes the experience competing in Pyeongchang four years ago as a 16-year-old will put her in good stead when she lines up in the GS on Monday and in Friday's Super G.
"Yeah, definitely. I think there's a lot of different things going on at the Olympics. It's quite a different environment to the rest of the World Cup races. Having that experience as a youngster was really good to experience all the other things outside the Olympics, the other stuff outside of the skiing, especially. But I think when you get into a start gate, I've just got to treat it like any other race."
Despite having just turned 20 in December last year, Robinson has produced, at times, astonishing performances in her short career so far, made more impressive considering she's been competing against veterans of the sport who are in their mid to late 20s or early 30s.
Robinson acknowledges her performances over the past few years have raised expectations.
"There are definitely external expectations but also expectations for myself because I know I am capable of having a good result. It's about minimizing the expectations and just trying to focus on what I can do.
"But it's cool to be able to be a hope for the New Zealand team and really exciting as well. That's something I think I'm just trying to help motivate me to ski my best, to try and live up to expectations, but also, I think, just the biggest expectations for myself. So that's just what I've got to focus on."
For Riegler, who will be watching Robinson race from her home in the French Alps, she anticipates something special from the Kiwi trailblazer.
"I have watched all her races this season and she definitely still has the fastest GS turn out of everyone. It's just pulling that together during a whole run. And then obviously when you're fast, sometimes you make mistakes, and then they cost you the good results," Riegler said.
"She seems to be in a really good space at the moment in Beijing, from what I can see. So, I'm pretty confident she has everything it takes.
"The key is just to know that her ground speed is already really fast, and that she doesn't have to do the 120 per cent because we all know that does not work. I think just trusting in her abilities, and her speed and just putting down a clean, strong run. I think it's going to be enough."
Riegler was pleased to learn Robinson has made the necessary adjustments to her skis and it's made a difference in her training runs.
"It's really important in ski racing, it's kind of like Formula One. The setup is so important, then you spend hours and hours with your technician and your coach to get it right. You have to have the right setup otherwise you can lose a lot of time."
Robinson faces competition for the podium from a host of brilliant Giant Slalom skiers. There's defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin, who also won slalom gold in Sochi in 2014 and is planning to race in all five Alpine disciplines. The American won the first two of the six World Cup GS races completed so far this season.
Meanwhile, Sweden's Sara Hector may well be favourite for gold. She has a similar aggressive stye to Robinson and the 29-year-old has won three of the last four World Cup races.
Frenchwoman Tessa Worley, Czech Petra Vlhova and Italians Federica Brignone and Marta Bassino are also expected to be among the challengers for the podium.
The first run is timed to go from 3.15pm on Monday with the second run from 6.45pm.
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