New Zealand skier Alice Robinson in Austria. Photo: Agence Zoom
New Zealand skier Alice Robinson has finished second at the FIS Giant Slalom World Cup season opener in Austria.
Robinson was 0.17 of a second behind winner Federica Brignone of Italy.
Brignone claimed the 28th World Cup victory of her career with Julia Scheib of Austria claiming her career first World Cup podium in front of her home crowd.
This is a particularly special result for Robinson as this is the location of her maiden World Cup win in 2019, when she became the youngest female athlete to ever win the Sölden Giant Slalom World Cup.
"I haven't been on the podium here since I won five years ago, it has always been one of my favourite races so it's nice to come back this year and have some form."
Robinson started in bib two and during her first run dominated the steep section and subsequent transition onto the flatter section of the piste, which was causing a number of the top athletes in the field to lose milliseconds.
After run one, Robinson was sitting in second position, 0.22 seconds behind run one leader American Mikaela Shiffrin.
"I felt really solid on the top section, I felt confident and not too nervous in the start and I understood what I needed to do. I think I attacked really well and skied the pitch a lot better than I had when we trained here so I was really happy with that," Robinson said of the first run.
With the start order reversed for run two, Robinson was the penultimate athlete down the course that was starting to see a deterioration in surface condition due to the 28 athletes who had gone down before her.
Robinson put down a blistering run, using her strength and power to maintain a strong, quick line throughout the bumpy course.
The women's FIS Giant Slalom World Cup circuit continues in December with the Killington World Cup set to be held in the USA.
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