Some ‘‘amazing’’ training in good snow conditions at Coronet Peak has gun Queenstown ski racer Alice Robinson tracking nicely for coming world cup events.
Robinson, 21, won the women’s New Zealand Giant Slalom Championships at Coronet Peak on Sunday, her third national title.
Fellow Queenstowner Sam Hadley, 19, came home third in the men’s giant slalom.
Arrowtown’s NZ women’s ski team head coach Nils Coberger says Robinson’s win has come off the back of some technical changes made to her technique and equipment settings ‘‘that we’re super-happy with’’.
‘‘We’re in a skill-development block, getting Alice’s technique rock solid where we want it … then we can start to experiment with lines and tactics and fine tune the set up for boots and bindings and skis,’’ Coberger says.
With Robinson owning 40 pairs of skis, and six pairs of boots, there’s lots to go through with other members of the coaching staff, including her coach, fellow Queenstowner Tim Cafe.
‘‘When you get into the top 15 in the world, where Alice is, it’s about making the equipment work for you, it’s all measured in hundredths [of a second], we have a little saying ‘hundys matter’,’’ Coberger says.
Robinson, Coberger and Cafe are among about 250 of the world’s top ski racers and coaches training and racing at a Coronet Peak for the next few weeks.
Most of the global contingent arrived last week, including the Austrian and Swiss men’s and women’s Europa Cup teams and Global Racing, a private team of world cup athletes from Belgium, Germany, Austria, Norway and Italy.
The internationals are loving the conditions, Coberger says.
‘‘The peak needed a bit of snow and we got a top up and it’s just great for training.
‘‘[It’s] just the way we like it … our pistes are looking pretty bloody good and the days are starting to get a bit longer.’’
Coberger’s crew have been mostly training at Rocky Gully, but have interspersed some sessions at the Hurdle, a steep run where ‘‘when you’re racing down at 65 clicks you’ve got to be really on your game’’.
‘‘It’s all about maximising every day, and we’ve been really lucky with the conditions … hopefully that bears fruit.’’
They’ll soon find out when Robinson contests the giant slalom at the Australia New Zealand Cup event at Coronet tomorrow and Tuesday.
That event will feature some class competition, including world top-15 US alpine racers Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien.
‘‘That will be a pretty competitive race with a bit more pressure, and the top girls enjoy that … they’ll be really going for it.’’
The Kiwi team will continue training on the mountain till September 11, before a two-week break, more training at Mt Hutt, and then head to Austria for the world cup event on the glacier at Soelden on October 28.
There Robinson will be looking for a repeat of her 2019 efforts, when the-then 17-year-old stunned reigning Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin to win the opening world cup giant slalom of that season, to announce herself on the global alpine racing stage.
