{"id":2450393,"date":"2019-10-26T15:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T21:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/former-vonn-coach-helps-robinson-17-beat-shiffrin-in-gs\/"},"modified":"2019-10-26T15:12:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T21:12:01","slug":"vonns-former-coach-helps-new-zealand-teen-beat-shiffrin-in-season-opening-gs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/vonns-former-coach-helps-new-zealand-teen-beat-shiffrin-in-season-opening-gs\/","title":{"rendered":"Vonn\u2019s former coach helps New Zealand teen beat Shiffrin in season-opening GS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.7783191230207\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-315090-285\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>New Zealand&#8217;s Alice Robinson celebrates winning an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"New Zealand's Alice Robinson celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-1-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | New Zealand's Alice Robinson, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and third placed France's Tessa Worley, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"4.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"20\">\n<p><strong>New Zealand&#8217;s Alice Robinson, center, winner of an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and third placed France&#8217;s Tessa Worley, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-1-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"New Zealand's Alice Robinson, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and third placed France's Tessa Worley, in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | New Zealand's Alice Robinson competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>New Zealand&#8217;s Alice Robinson competes during an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"New Zealand's Alice Robinson competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-3-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin competes during an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/Austria_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_05164-c0775-3-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Marco Trovati)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/former-vonn-coach-helps-robinson-17-beat-shiffrin-in-gs\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/former-vonn-coach-helps-robinson-17-beat-shiffrin-in-gs\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">SOELDEN, Austria \u2014 A coach who helped Lindsey Vonn become the winningest female skier of all time guided one of the sport\u2019s biggest prospects to her first World Cup victory on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Led by Chris Knight, New Zealand teenager Alice Robinson edged Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin to win the traditional World Cup season-opener on the Rettenbach glacier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It was the first women\u2019s World Cup giant slalom victory for a skier from New Zealand, and the first in any discipline since Claudia Riegler triumphed in a slalom in Switzerland in 1997.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a while to sink in,\u201d the 17-year-old Robinson said, adding she planned to fly back to New Zealand on Monday to finish her high school education this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It was the third points-scoring top-30 finish for Robinson, who won the junior world title in GS in February before finishing runner-up to Shiffrin in the World Cup Finals the following month. Saturday\u2019s result proved this achievement had been no fluke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think I proved that wasn\u2019t a one-off so I am happy with that,\u201d said Robinson, who had been hoping to land her first victory soon. \u201cI thought like, \u2018Oh, it could happen,\u2019 but it was not on my head. To win is pretty crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Robinson, who trailed Shiffrin by 0.14 seconds after the opening run, was one-fifth of a second faster than the American in the final run. She won her first World Cup race in only her 11th start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Tessa Worley of France, who won the race last year, was 0.36 behind in third.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s nice to start off quite well, but I just got to keep building and hopefully keep it up,\u201d said Robinson, who plans to start in her first World Cup speed event at a super-G in St. Moritz in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Born in Sydney, Robinson moved to Queenstown at age four and learned skiing at Coronet Peak. A local coach, Tim Cafe, led her through the international youth ranks but the pair went separate ways after Robinson joined Knight\u2019s International Ski Racing Academy in the Italian Dolomites, with Val di Fassa and San Pellegrino as main training venues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The academy was set up by Knight and a fellow former U.S ski team coach, Jeff Fergus, to help talented female skiers make the next step in their careers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Knight worked with Vonn from 2015-18 after a six-year stint with another American standout, Julia Mancuso. Under his guidance, Vonn won 15 World Cup races and downhill bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Earlier, Fergus had also been Vonn\u2019s head coach, helping her to win 26 races in three seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cHe is a good coach,\u201d Robinson said about Knight. \u201cHe has a good attitude. He knows how to deal with athletes pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Watched by 14,000 spectators and racing under clear blue skies, Robinson positioned herself for a possible triumph when she became the only racer to stay close to Shiffrin in the opening run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She lost only 0.14 seconds on the Olympic GS champion, while pre-race favorites like Federica Brignone, Worley or Viktoria Rebensburg were at least 0.86 off the lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI was a little bit nervous but I tried to keep myself calm, just trying to enjoy it all,\u201d Robinson said about her second run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Shiffrin was full of praise for her rival, who, like herself in 2011, won her first World Cup race at age 17.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cYou could see it last year that Alice is going to be really strong,\u201d Shiffrin said. \u201cIt\u2019s super cool and really exciting. She skied really solid so it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Brignone, who was third after the opening run, finished 0.87 behind in fifth, ending up one place behind Norway\u2019s Mina Fuerst Holtmann, who had her best World Cup result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The second run was interrupted for several minutes after Bernadette Schild badly crashed and was hospitalized by helicopter. The Austrian ski team said Schild tore the ACL in her right knee and will not compete again this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A men\u2019s giant slalom on the same course is scheduled for Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/former-vonn-coach-helps-robinson-17-beat-shiffrin-in-gs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand&#8217;s Alice Robinson celebrates winning an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandro Trovati)AP | AP New Zealand&#8217;s Alice Robinson, center, winner of an alpine ski, women&#8217;s World Cup giant slalom, poses with second placed United States&#8217; Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and third placed France&#8217;s Tessa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 11:34:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}