Exclusive: Alice Robinson on growing up fast, inspiring the next generation and Olympic pressure

Alice Robinson grins over Zoom from her room in Austria.

She’s simply been requested how she offers with the duality of her standing as New Zealand’s premier skier.

For you see on the one hand Robinson may be very a lot the younger pup of the snowboarding world, in any case at simply 19 she was the youngest World Cup winner final season, male or feminine. The youngest man was Lucas Braathen at 20, the second youngest girl? Katharina Liensberger at 23.

However on the identical time Robinson, alongside fellow youngsters Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, represents an opportunity for New Zealand to do one thing completely astonishing in just a few months’ time in Beijing. All three are nice bets to medal and Robinson has pretty much as good probability as anybody to take big slalom gold, which might be her personal piece of historical past because the nation’s first winter sports activities Olympic champion.

Her profile within the land the place she grew up, a rustic dominated by different sports activities, remains to be comparatively small however it’s beginning to develop, and you’ll make certain it would have exploded after a Video games that’s at a beneficial time for the New Zealand viewers. Already she’s been tasked with inspiring a youthful era, whereas nonetheless determining her place on the World Cup circuit.

So simply how does she stability it?

“Um yeah,” Robinson says laughing. “I imply I fairly like being the youthful one on the circuit as a result of I feel it type of simply runs with my persona a bit as a result of I like being the underdog,

“And I feel, particularly while you’re youthful, there’s strain going into it however then on the identical time, being from New Zealand, there’s not as a lot [compared to athletes from countries with more traditional skiing backgrounds].

“I am type of just like the younger one and not likely recognized… I imply I am recognized however I am not like the largest, large canine I suppose.”

She continues: “However after I’m at dwelling I’ve bought to take that management position a bit greater than after I’m over right here [in Europe] clearly.

“I simply attempt to be inspirational and assist out as a lot as I can round with the youngsters races and issues and I at all times go up there and hang around with the youngsters and native ski golf equipment and provides the medals and stuff like that and at all times reply everybody’s questions in addition to I can.

“I am simply studying increasingly more and in addition, being one of many youngest on tour, I’ve to be taught two issues directly: studying about snowboarding and studying about racing on the World Cup, however then additionally being on the opposite aspect of the world and in a really international place to the world I grew up in.

“I grew up in New Zealand, I had to absorb the surroundings that I used to be in a lot greater than different athletes after they’re younger. It is totally different racing in case you’re younger, been doing this all of your life and also you’re racing in your house nation, every little thing round you is similar, whereas I simply needed to soak it up as a lot as I might as a result of I used to be right here studying about snowboarding and studying about racing on the World Cup – but additionally studying about dwelling in a very totally different place and totally different cultures and totally different languages and stuff. I simply attempt to be as a lot of a sponge as I can.”

Robinson is definitely a fast learner. On the finish of the 2018-19 season she gave a glimpse of her immense expertise with a second-placed end in Andorra. Then got here the second she introduced herself on the circuit, a blistering efficiency the place she is now, Solden, initially of the 2019-20 season to stun double-Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin. In doing so she grew to become the youngest winner of a World Cup race since Shiffrin herself seven years prior.

Regardless of harm setbacks the following season and Covid-19 disrupting her most up-to-date marketing campaign greater than any athlete, Robinson has added two extra wins to her younger resume in addition to one other podium, a second-place in Slovakia final March. Bear in mind once we talked about Braathen and Liensberger because the youngest race-winners in addition to Robinson? They had been each profitable their maiden World Cup race, Robinson already has three. Have been it not for disruptions to her preparations it may very well be much more.

“Final yr was undoubtedly a tricky one,” admits Robinson.

“For me. I am acutely aware that initially it was actually robust and I used to be struggling a bit with my kind. I feel simply because I missed lots of the preseason coaching due to Covid-19 restrictions and every little thing after which type of bought right into a little bit of a rut, however I feel I realized rather a lot and managed to tug myself out of it and completed off fairly properly. In order that’s type of the second I am attempting to take via.”

By her personal admission, Robinson isn’t attempting to reinvent the wheel with the work she’s carried out over the low season. As with most athletes on the prime of their recreation it’s about refined tweaks right here and there. “Consistency is one thing I’m at all times attempting to work on,” she says including from a tactical perspective she’s at all times, “attempting to work out the very best line to take.”

It’s price reiterating simply how troublesome it’s for Robinson proper now. Like most non-European athletes she has a European base, in Italy, however due to the strict guidelines in place in New Zealand she now gained’t be capable to return dwelling till the tip of the season. That’s over 5 months away with out seeing her family and friends in particular person. That makes an already pretty isolating state of affairs even tougher.

However Robinson is resilient, and she or he has large targets in thoughts. Her primary precedence is the Olympics, and she or he isn’t simply going there to make up the numbers. “My purpose is to return away with a medal and I feel it’s a risk and I feel I can do it,” she insists.

She’s definitely in with an opportunity, particularly because the hill in China will likely be model new for all of the athletes. None of them can have skied on it till they landing in Beijing, principally simply diminished to seeing a POV video despatched round on Whatsapp. Meaning for somebody like Robinson, who on her day is among the best on the planet, it’s a stage enjoying discipline that takes her youth and inexperience out of the equation.

With that comes added strain in fact. The races must be round 17:00 and 20:00 in New Zealand, good timing for a rustic to cheer on a brand new hero.

“I feel it is totally different for me being from New Zealand and that impulsively the entire nation’s listening to my races.

“So for me, it’ll get extra of that added strain, going into it as a result of now impulsively, we go from no-one following my World Cup journey actually, at dwelling, to impulsively, there’s all this consideration on the Olympics, you realize, simply because that is what folks can watch.

“So I feel it is type of that added strain from dwelling that I am not used to having as properly however I am simply utilizing it to love gas me and encourage me extra, to work tougher simply so I can put actually being like the perfect place after I get there.”

And Robinson doesn’t go simple on herself. She’s planning to race kind of each Tremendous-G this season as she plans to get extra into the velocity aspect of ski-racing, having licensed herself as a top-ten Big Slalom racer. That might imply a double shot at a medal in Beijing.

No matter occurs this season Robinson’s story is one in every of outstanding power, and one other reminder of simply how extraordinary human beings may be. Snowboarding can generally current itself as a closed store but it surely wants extra Robinsons, the game is simply higher for it.

Ed be aware – In conducting these pre-season interviews we’re attempting to spotlight athletes who is not going to solely star in Beijing however ones who it’s essential be watching proper now. They’re must-see TV and also you don’t need to miss them in motion. Robinson is the proper instance, each second she spends on snow is breathtaking and is strictly what sport is supposed to be.