Alice Robinson.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Alice Robinson wants to finish on the podium at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The New Zealand alpine skier is gearing up for a massive season, which starts this weekend with the first World Cup round in Solden, Austria.
“I’m in Solden now and winter at home was great. We had some really awesome conditions in New Zealand with some other teams coming down and feel like we got a lot done in the off-season,” Robinson said.
“It was nice being at home and felt like we got some really good training in and also some time off skis with the family as well. So looking forward to this big season coming up.”
Robinson won silver at the 2025 World Champs.
Photo: Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom
Queenstown’s Robinson is coming off an impressive last season where she finished second at the World Championships in Austria in the giant slalom. She also came second in the overall World Cup standings after finishing on the podium at every GS World Cup race she finished, bringing her career World Cup medal total to 17 medals, including four golds.
However, she wanted to win the overall Crystal Globe and couldn’t hide her disappointment. She said that helped motivate her to get better and improve her mental strength.
“Having that experience and obviously a bit of disappointment from the end of last year following an autumn season definitely kept the fire burning for this off-season to try and work harder to be more prepared and to mentally know how to deal with those higher intensity, higher pressure moments for sure,” Robinson said
“Last year was such a big step forward for me with being a lot more consistent. I’ve obviously been on the tour for quite a few years now, six years, and I was so fast as a young skier, obviously with winning Solden like six years ago now, which is a bit scary, but I was an all or nothing kind of skier.
“I think that was a big step forward in the last couple of years is learning how to rein in the GS to be fast across all the different slopes, all the different conditions, you know, different races every weekend.”
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics take place next February in Italy. Many athletes will shape their seasons around trying to peak in February, but Robinson said she has to try to peak all season long.
“For me, the best option is just to be confident and feel like I’m just skiing well. So, I’m going to be kind of treating the Olympics as just another World Cup stop on the tour, like I would every other year,” Robinson said
“Having the Olympics, because I’m racing tech and speed, we race every weekend. So, we do have a weekend off before the Olympics. So, I feel like that’s a bit of a bonus that we get. It’s our only training block of the season. So, if we didn’t have the Olympics, we wouldn’t have that. So, I think having that extra week for sure is going to be really helpful.”
Alice Robinson.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Robinson is only 23 but has already been to two Olympics. She believes that should help her approach the pinnacle event.
“This will be my third Olympics and I’ve done four World Championships and I’ve been racing on the circuit for a long time. The Olympics is different, being a globally recognised event. Coming from racing in Europe, where I kind of don’t get typically get a lot of interest from people in New Zealand, to then coming into the Olympics and all of a sudden there’s a lot more attention from New Zealand, I think in the past I struggled with that and put too much pressure on myself.
“Going into this one, especially with it being in Cortina, which is a familiar World Cup venue for us, I kind of just want to go into it treating it just like another World Cup race and trying to keep things as similar as I can. The best option mentally to head into the Olympics is just treating it as another race and obviously just trying to also embrace being at the Olympics and how special it is, but not over putting too much pressure on myself.”
Though Robinson wants a medal in Milano Cortina and an overall World Cup title.
“Obviously, a big goal of mine last year was being in contention for the globe. That’s going to be the same goal for this year. Then obviously it was also a medal at World Championships last year. Obviously there’s the Olympics this year, so I think my goal there is going to be quite similar.”
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