Alice Robinson added speed racing to her repertoire as she claimed her first-ever Super G victory on the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup on Sunday (14 December).
New Zealand’s most successful alpine skier ever already counts among the best technical skiers, leading the giant slalom standings. Robinson missed out on the giant slalom Crystal Globe last season after skiing out in the World Cup finals.
The world silver medallist now trails U.S. superstar and season leader Mikaela Shiffrin by 64 points in the overall standings. Shiffrin missed the penultimate gate and retired with a DNF behind her name in the opening Super G race of the World Cup season.
Wearing bib number six, Robinson showed off her skills in the speed event with a stunning run to take the early lead with a time of one minute, 14.18 seconds (1:14.84). She edged France’s Romane Miradole by 0.08 seconds with Sofia Goggia finishing third, 0.19s off the pace.
“It was such an epic day! I’ve always struggled with the Super G to feel the same nerves, energy, intensity and focus that I feel with the giant slalom races,” Robinson told the FIS afterwards.
“But today I was telling myself, ‘this is like a GS race, you are a real competitor’. I had such a clear plan of what I wanted to do. It is my first Super G podium and win, but I’ve been racing it for a few years now, and I’ve always wanted to crack it. I never just wanted to be a one-trick pony in the GS.”
