Queenstown skier Alice Robinson admits this has been her toughest year on the World Cup circuit and was therefore delighted to finish it on a high.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Robinson won the final World Cup giant slalom race of the season in Switzerland, denying super-star Mikaela Shiffrin in what would have been the America's 70th career victory.
Robinson came from fourth after the first run to record her third career win, but first this season.
She finished eighth in the overall giant slalom standings.
The 19 year old went into the season as one of the ones to watch, but concedes she was unable to live up to her own expectations.
"The first half of the season wasn't very good but I finished it skiing the best I ever have so that's the kind of confidence I'm going to take away from it."
"It was a tough season because I went into it without any proper off-season training which is really important and because of Covid it was all put on hold for me for a while."
"I struggled to catch up with all the other athletes who were able to train during the (northern) summer on the European glaciers."
"I couldn't get staff into New Zealand to help with training and so I went to Europe nine months ago to meet up with my team and tried to squeeze six months of training into six weeks so I felt like I was doing catchup all season."
"I'm starting to hit my peak form now but unfortunately we're at the end of the season, it's a great way to finish it off and I just want to take this momentum into next year."
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Annelise Coberger's Olympic silver medal in 1992 was the last time a New Zealand alpine skier hit the world headlines and Robinson is attracting a new generation of interest, especially in Europe.
"It's a bit of a shock for a lot of people that there's a person of my age from New Zealand doing so well especially because all the stars of the sport are from Europe and the US and I'm the only competitor on the World Cup full-time from the southern hemisphere."
"We have a lot less resources than the other big teams but it's quite refreshing for the sport to have someone whose not from Europe doing well and it gives a lot of people some inspiration to see a person from a country like New Zealand competing against these powerhouse nations," she said.
After nine months away, Robinson will now return home to start her off-season training and consistency remains her focus.
I've learnt so much this season with the highs and lows which is something every athlete has to go through if you want to learn and I think it's taught me a lot about consistency and the right approach to take into different races."
"I've said for the past two years I've wanted to be more consistent and that continues and I just want to keep building each year to have the level of skiing which I had today every race and that's my goal for next year."
Next season includes the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.