The 23-year-old won the Copper Mountain FIS giant slalom world cup in Colorado yesterday, snatching her fifth world cup victory to start the season.
It was a successful weekend for Otago’s skiers as Wanaka freeskier Luca Harrington also won bronze in the FIS freeski big air world cup tour.
Robinson was thrilled with the dream start to the 2025-26 season.
"It’s amazing. It was definitely a day of two different runs.
"The first run I felt so in control and so smooth and then the second run I felt out of control and like I was recovering the whole time, so I was shocked to see the green light at the finish.
"I wasn’t feeling that confident coming into this race, so I am really proud of myself. I trusted my instinct and skied how I wanted to ski — it’s like a dream."
Robinson took a convincing lead of 0.60sec in the first run, executing a flawless performance on the aggressive, early season Colorado snow. She further built on her advantage in run two to take the win by 0.96sec, an incredible margin for a sport that often sees the podium decided by just hundredths of a second.
Austria’s Julia Scheib finished second, while Thea Louise Stjernesund, of Norway, was third.
The victory made Robinson the most successful female alpine ski racer of all time from a non-North American/non-European country.
"It’s always really special for me to represent New Zealand, especially in a sport like ski racing that is so dominated by North America and Europe, so I am really proud of that."
Harrington, who had a breakthrough 2024-25 season, was pleased to also start his season on the podium in China.
"On the first day of training it became apparent that the level of riding was really high and it was a battle just to get through to the finals," Harrington said.
"Today didn’t play out exactly as I had planned, but I played my cards well and I couldn’t be happier to be back on the podium."
Harrington, the freeski big air world champion, was one of the favourites coming into the competition, qualifying sixth.
He put down a hugely technical switch right triple corked 1800 esco grab and a right triple corked 1980 safety grab to score a combined total score of 176 and land himself on the podium.
Fellow Kiwi Lucas Ball (Nelson, 17) also qualified in only his third FIS freeski big air world cup, finishing in sixth overall.
In the women’s field, 18-year-old Sylvia Trotter (Wanaka) made her FIS big air world cup debut, finishing seventh overall.
Kiwi snowboarders also competed in Secret Garden this weekend, Lucia Georgalli (Wānaka, 18) debuting in her first FIS big air world cup and finishing ninth. — Allied Media
