[ad_1]
New Zealand teenager Alice Robinson believes she “has so much more to give” after winning the final World Cup race of the season in Sunday night’s giant slalom in Switzerland.
An aggressive second run put the 19-year-old ahead of American Mikaela Shiffrin to win a giant slalom that ended the Women’s World Cup ski season in Lenzerheide.
Robinson, who now has three World Cup victories, had been fourth fastest in the opening race, behind 2018 Olympic champion Shiffrin by 0.77 seconds.
Gabriele Facciotti / AP
Alice Robinson of New Zealand accelerates the course during an alpine skiing, the Women’s World Cup Giant Slalom, in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
But he made it a 0.28 second win. Meta Hrovat was third, behind Robinson by 0.48.
READ MORE:
* Alice Robinson’s uphill path to becoming a world-class downhill champion
* Alpine ski racer Alice Robinson disqualified from the Super G World Cup
* Ski racer Alice Robinson named New Zealand Snowsports Athlete of the Year
It was the New Zealander’s third giant slalom victory on the World Cup circuit.
Robinson made her world cup debut just two seasons ago in the final in Andorra, finishing second as a guest junior world champion.
Gabriele Facciotti / AP
Robinson celebrates in the finish area during an alpine skiing, the Women’s Giant Slalom at the World Cup in Slovakia, in early March.
She is also the first woman since the 1980s to win three World Cup races before turning 20, matching the record set by Slovenian Mateja Svet (1986-1988).
“I was not at all happy with my first race,” Robinson told the International Ski Federation after the race on Sunday night (New Zealand time).
“So I thought I had to go full throttle to give all my energy in the second race, as it was the last of the season where I gave all the energy and power that I had.
“That [run 2] I didn’t feel that amazing, but in the past my fastest races have never felt better. I think when you go as fast as possible you feel crazy, it’s hard to control and that’s what it feels like. “
Marco Trovati / AP
Alice Robinson hugs American Mikaela Shiffrin, right, after her winning run.
The New Zealand teen ski star has had a quick uphill run, although the last 12 months have been tough.
However, things are starting to peak: Last month, Robinson missed a historic medal at the Alpine World Championships in Italy. The Queenstown skier finished fourth in the giant slalom event at Cortina, losing bronze by 0.64 seconds in her quest to become the first New Zealander to win an Alpine World Championship medal.
Robinson said his three World Cup victories were “super exciting.”
“I feel like I have so much more to give, and I have a long way to go to consistently win on the tour and that’s my goal going forward, to bring this type of ski to every race. It is not an easy job, but it is something that I am working towards ”.
“This year has been tough, especially with Covid. I have been in Europe for nine months and I have not seen any family or been able to return home, it has been difficult, but I feel that I have learned a lot this year and I have learned to get up after some failures. so I’m quite proud of today. “
Shiffrin congratulated Robinson on a “good job” in the goal area. Shiffrin, who turned 26 last week, had also started winning world cup races as a teenager.
Gabriele Facciotti / AP
Petra Vlhova from Slovakia speeds down the slope while downhill skiing.
Marta Bassino, who has already secured the all-season giant slalom title, trailed 1.45 in seventh place.
A day after being crowned World Cup champion, Petra Vlhova ended her grueling season with an 11th place finish.
The first Slovak champion in the 54-year history of the world cup started 31 of the 33 races. His emotionally draining Saturday included being congratulated on a phone call with the President of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová.
Gabriele Facciotti / AP
Robinson, right, greets America’s Mikaela Shiffrin, second placed, left, and Slovenia’s Meta Hrovat, third, in the center.
Vlhova took the overall title from Federica Brignone, who placed fourth on Sunday and spoke of a difficult season celebrated with strict travel and health protocols and no fans allowed in the finish areas.
“I’ve had enough of this season. It was really long, it really wasn’t good, ”Brignone told Swiss broadcaster RTS with a smile, citing the lack of atmosphere at the races.
Still, Brignone finished with a flourish as only Robinson was faster in race two.
The first race of the morning was characterized by a curious departure from world champion Lara Gut-Behrami, who lost to Vlhova on Saturday in the general classification.
At first, Gut-Behrami seemed to simply stop running and left the announcers baffled when he skied.
The Swiss star, overall World Cup champion in 2016, began to stand up straight approaching the third gate, relaxed his arms and slowly went back to skiing slowly across the hill across the width of the next gate.
It was an odd ending to his impressive career resurgence in 2021. Since January, Gut-Behrami has won six World Cup races, including four in a row in super-G, plus two gold medals and a bronze at world championships the month. past in Cortina d’Ampezzo. , Italy.
“Lara did not have enough energy to give it her all and she did not want to risk injury and that is the reason why she stopped,” Swiss team spokesman Jérôme Krieg said in a statement.
There was quick speculation that Gut-Behrami was making a protest against the organizers after comments earlier in the week criticizing race week scheduling rules.
The downhill and super-G events, where Gut-Behrami is stronger than Vlhova, were canceled due to difficult weather conditions on Wednesday and Thursday. They couldn’t be carried over to Friday when the under-considered team side-races event went off without a hitch.
Krieg said that fatigue was “the only reason (to stop). She is happy for her season, which is over and she is healthy ”.
Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Alice Robinson became New Zealand’s youngest winter Olympian at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
Gut-Behrami did not stop to speak to the media in the finish area, and was due to return to the field for the trophy presentation.
Her latest performance shows that Robinson is poised to regularly rank among the best in the world, given her incredible success since graduating from senior level.
She won the New Zealand National Alpine Championship slalom and giant slalom titles at age 15 and was named New Zealand’s youngest winter Olympian in early 2018, eventually finishing 38th out of a field of 86 in the giant slalom at the Games.
Stanko Gruden / Agence Zoom / Getty Images
Robinson celebrates her victory in the women’s giant slalom at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Slovenia in 2020.
She became the junior world champion in giant slalom at age 17 in Val di Fassa, Italy, becoming the # 1 GS U-18 female skier and then left an indelible mark at the elite senior level in the World Cup. World. late the following month, when she finished runner-up behind Mikaela Shiffrin, the two-time US Winter Olympics gold medalist.
Robinson won his first World Cup race in just his 11th outing, beating Shiffrin to win the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October 2019 and then three days after winning the emerging talent award. at the Halberg Awards, he won his second. event on the World Cup giant slalom circuit in northwestern Slovenia yesterday, finishing ahead of Slovakian Petra Vlhova when she was 18 years old last February.
Additional reports from AP
[ad_2]
