Since her two eighth placings at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, the 24-year-old from Queenstown has now chalked up two World Cup podiums – a second place in the Super G at Soldeu and now, overnight, third in the Giant Slalom at Åre in Sweden.

It was Julia Scheib from Austria who put in a superb performance to win at Åre and claim the World Cup Giant Slalom Crystal Globe. Paula Moltzan (USA) took out second (+ 0.36) and Alice Robinson (+ 0.75) held onto third in an exciting race which saw the lead change on numerous occasions.

Robinson initially finished fourth in her first run. In the second run, however, she owned the slope, overtaking rival Emma Aicher to take the top spot with a solid margin of 0.99s. The lead was ultimately snatched by first Moltzan and then Scheib as fans held their breath to see where the Crystal Globe would land.          

Battling spring snow, Robinson said her second run was tough and “definitely felt pretty wild”. 

“I’m really happy. GS has been very up and down for me this year; the last time I was on the podium was December so I’m happy to be back there. January was hard for me but it’s just been getting better and better. I’m glad to have the GS back under control.”

Speaking on the conditions, Robinson said she had gradually come to terms with racing on spring snow.

“When I was younger I hated spring snow, but now I think I actually quite like it, and understand it more. The second run was hard because you had to have a mixture of charging and touch on the feely snow – it wasn’t perfect but I think I’ve come a long way.”

Robinson now moves onto her biggest showdown, for the Super G Crystal Globe. With Sofia Goggia in first place on 449 points and Robinson on 386, just 63 points behind, everything will come down to the final of the season in Lillehammer on March 22. Robinson is the only skier capable of catching Goggia at this point, and she’s heading there in fine fighting form.

PC-FIS