Alice Robinson

Robinson was born in Sydney, Australia, the second of three children of Sarah and David Robinson. Her parents moved to Queenstown permanently when Robinson was aged four.[2] She started her ski racing career at Coronet Peak with the Queenstown Alpine Ski Team and later also trained with the Sugar Bowl Ski Team and Academy based in Tahoe, California during the northern hemisphere winter.[3] From 2016 Robinson has been coached predominately by former New Zealand Olympian Tim Cafe.[4] She currently attends Wakatipu High School in Queenstown.[5]

Robinson won the Under-14 and Under-16 New Zealand titles before beginning her international career.[6] In April 2015 she won the ladies’ U14 Giant Slalom and Parallel Slalom at the Whistler Cup (which is one of the largest and most important junior ski races on the international calendar) held in Canada.[7] and in 2017 she won the U16 Giant Slalom and finished second in Slalom at ‘Pokal Loka in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.[8] She also won the USSA U16 National Championship Giant Slalom held at Snowbird, Utah and took second place in the Super G.[9]

In her debut FIS race on 30 July 2017 at Cardrona, she finished 3rd. The next day at the same venue she won the giant slalom race.[10][11]

On 10 August 2017, Robinson at the age of 15, won the New Zealand Alpine National Championships for slalom and giant slalom at Coronet Peak.[12] On 16 December 2017, she won her first North America Cup (NorAm) Giant Slalom race in Panorama, Canada. Her 8.70 FIS point result is the best any New Zealand skier has achieved in their first year of senior competition.[13] Robinson made her World Cup debut on 6 January 2018, in a giant slalom at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia finishing in 42nd place, and missing the cut to qualify for a second run by just 0.97s. Three days later Robinson won a FIS giant slalom race in Gaal, Austria in which she scored 11.90 FIS points, ranking her inside the top 70 in the world at the time.[14]

On 28 January 2018, Robinson was selected for New Zealand team for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games alongside fellow alpine skiers Adam Barwood and Willis Feasey. She is New Zealand's youngest ever Winter Olympian, being 16 years and 70 days when the games began.[15] At the Olympics Robinson was coached by former alpine Olympians Tim Cafe and Ben Griffin. Robinson 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. She failed to finish the first run of the slalom event.[16]

On 27 August 2018, Robinson won the Audi Quattro Winter Games NZ FIS Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) Giant Slalom.[17] On 5 September 2018 she won the New Zealand Alpine National Championships for Super-G as well as two Australia New Zealand Cup Super G races held at Mt Hutt.[18]

On 2 February 2019, at the World Cup giant slalom in Maribor, Slovenia Robinson finished in 25th place on the first run, becoming the first New Zealander to qualify for the second run (in World Cup racing only the top 30 racers qualify for a second run). She failed to finish the second run.[19] On 9 February, at aged 17, she won the European Cup Giant Slalom in Berchtesgaden, Germany, becoming the first New Zealand athlete to do so since Claudia Riegler in 2001.[20]

At the 2019 World Championships at Åre in Sweden in February, 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.[21]

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.[22] She also finished in 15th-place finish in the Super-G.[23]

On 8 March 2019, at the World Cup giant slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Robinson finished 16th in a 70 strong field earning 15 World Cup points, the first in her career.[24]

On 12 March 2019, at the European Cup Finals Super G in Sella Nevea, Italy Robinson finished second place, 0.12 s behind the winner.[25]

On 17 March 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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28]

Robinson was named the Otago Junior Sportswoman of Year at the 2019 Otago Sports Awards. Her coach, Tim Cafe, was also named as the Otago Coach of the Year.[29]

On 24 June 2019, it was announced that Robinson was splitting from Tim Cafe who has coached her for the previous eight years citing a need for World Cup-level coaching. Chris Knight and Jeff Fergus, who formed the International Ski Racing Academy in 2018 are now Robinson's full-time coaches. Knight and Fergus previously coached the United States women's team which included four-time overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn.[30]

Robinson began the 2020 season ranked a career best 10th in the World in Giant Slalom.[31] She won both the giant slalom[32] and the slalom[33] at the 2019 New Zealand Alpine National Championships. On 28 August 2019, Robinson won two Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) Super G races held at Coronet Peak. These results mean that she holds the yellow Super G ANC bib for the 2020 Northern Hemisphere race season.[34]  On 30 August 2019, Robinson finished second in a ANC Giant Slalom race and was awardered the Janey Blair Memorial Trophy for being the fastest finishing New Zealand female.[35] On 28 September 2019, Robinson won the New Zealand Alpine ski racer athlete of the year award at Snow Sports New Zealand awards.[36]

On 26 October 2019, Robinson won her first Alpine World Cup race in giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, Austria. She defeated reigning World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin by 0.06 seconds. This is the first World Cup victory in any discipline for a New Zealander since Claudia Riegler in 1997,[37] 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.[38] 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. On 7 November 2019 Robinson announced that this injury would prevent her from starting the next giant slalom World Cup race in Killington, Vermont[39] but she recovered faster than expected[40] and started the event, crashing in the opening run.[41] Robinson won her second career World Cup giant slalom race in Kransjska Gora, Slovenia beating Petra Vlhova by 0.34 seconds on 15 February 2020.[42] She is the first teenager since Mateja Svet in the 1987/1988 season to win multiple giant slaloms in a single World Cup season.[43] On 18 February Robinson became the joint world number one ranked skier in women's Giant Slalom alongside Federica Brignone, Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova. She is the first New Zealander to achieve this feat in any discipline.[44] Robinson finished fourth in Super G at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships held at Narvik, Norway.[45]

Robinson won the Sky Sport Emerging Talent Award at the 2019 Halberg Awards.[46] For the second year in a row Robinson was named the Mercy Hospital Junior Sports Woman of the Year at the 2020 ASB Otago Sports Awards ahead of snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.[47]

• Alice Robinson at the International Ski Federation
• Alice Robinson World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
• Alice Robinson at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database