As the penultimate skier in the second run, Ljutic led Grenier by nearly a second at the halfway stage, and although she couldn’t match the Canadian’s speed on the lower half, the Atomic skier just held on by 0.06 of a second.
Her time was no match for Robinson, however, who led by 0.33 seconds out of the gate, survived a slight line error early in her second run, and then crushed it the rest of the way down the hill.
“I’m so glad I was able to hold on after the lead in the first run and build on it,” said the New Zealander, who is now among the most accomplished Giant Slalom skiers on the tour.
With the last two discipline globe winners Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head) absent, and the one before that (Shiffrin) still working her way back to her best GS form, Robinson has seized the moment.
From sporadic wins as a teenager to consistent podiums last year, the Salomon skier has gone up another gear already this season.
And having now won consecutive World Cup races for the first time, Robinson has established herself as one of the biggest favorites not just for the Giant Slalom globe, but also for Olympic gold in Cortina in two months’ time.
Before then, however, she has more immediate business to take care of: Sunday’s second GS in Tremblant, beginning at 10am local time / 4pm CET.
Click here for full results from Saturday’s race.