Kiwi teen extends dream run
Another wide-eyed Kiwi teenager has made a splash on the world’s slopes.
Queenstown 17-year-old Alice Robinson produced a stunning performance to finish second in the women’s giant slalom in the prestigious skiing World Cup finals yesterday.
Described as the pinnacle of skiing – even above the Winter Olympics – Robinson held her nerve to beat everyone except American Mikaela Shiffrin in Soldeu, Andorra.
‘‘It’s an amazing feeling,’’ Robinson told Swiss broadcaster RTS. ‘‘It’s crazy, so cool to share the first podium with Petra [Vlhova, of Slovakia] and Mikaela. They’re such great skiers.’’
After a dream year for alpine sports when Kiwi teens Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won Olympic medals, Robinson continued her rapid rise into elite ranks.
She was invited to the World Cup finals following her giant slalom gold at the junior world championships in Italy last month.
Robinson finished 17th in the GS at the senior world championships in Sweden, where she posted the fastest time in the second run.
The top-25 based on seasonlong results, plus the winners of the junior world championships in each discipline, are all invited to the big show.
Shiffrin shed a few tears in the finish area as she lifted a recordtying fourth World Cup crystal globe in the same season.
‘‘I wanted to come out here today and really earn it. Really earn it and deserve it,’’ said Shiffrin, whose 17th World Cup win this season extended her own record.
A fourth discipline title in one season matched the women’s World Cup record jointly held by Lindsey Vonn (2010, 2012) and Tina Maze (2013).
Shiffrin needed only a top-15 finish to ensure closest challenger Vlhova could not overhaul the American star’s points total.
Instead, the Olympic giant slalom champion retained her first-run lead in style to finish 0.30 seconds ahead of Robinson. Vlhova was third, 0.41 back.
While Shiffrin is the undisputed current star of women’s alpine skiing, a bright future was seen for Robinson.
The New Zealand prospect got her first career podium when just six months older than Shiffrin was getting her first top-three finish, in a December, 2011, slalom.
Shiffrin’s four crystal globes tops the three earned by the men’s standout Marcel Hirscher.
Hirscher already clinched the slalom titles, and a recordextending eighth straight overall title, before the final race yesterday. Seeming fatigued by a long season, the 30-year-old Hirscher said after placing sixth in the giant slalom that he could spend next season with his young family ‘‘cooking and holding the baby’’.