Olympic medal eludes Alice Robinson at Super Giant Slalom final

New Zealand alpine skiier Alice Robinson's hopes of securing a medal at the Super Giant Slalom finals have been dashed, after a promising start to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Italy's Federica Brignone took home the gold, with silver going to France's Romane Miradoli and bronze to Austria's Cornelia Huetter.

Robinson was 14th to take on the slope in a line-up of 43 overnight at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The 24-year-old started off strong but a small line error mid-course proved costly, leading to a final run-time of 1 minute and 24.44 seconds, and 8th-equal placement with France's Camille Cerutti.

However, managing to compete the run was an achievement in itself, with 17 other competitors - including favourites like Italy's Sofia Goggia and Germany's Emma Aicher - failing to finish.

With mist and fog setting in, Robinson said the race had been "really challenging".

"It was an awesome course set, it was technical and had really good turns in it. In inspection it looked amazing but I think the snow changed quite a lot from the inspection to the race and got a lot softer and it was really hard to create energy and to push," she said.

"You had to be really smooth the whole way. I think people who were charging and trying to push the line too much, it just wasn't working. So, it was definitely a really challenging day for a lot of people."

She was "really happy" for Brigone, saying the Italian would be one to keep an eye on at the Giant Slalom event this weekend.

"I think she's going to be pretty hot there too," Robinson said.

"I'm going to have to be pulling all my best tricks out to be in the mix there."

Brignone's 1 minute and 23.41 second run was an astonishing comeback from career-threatening injury, securing the win for Italy on home snow.

Known as the "Tiger" for her ferocious determination, the 35-year-old had looked doubtful for the Games after a crash last April, but fought back to fitness and produced one of her greatest runs on a foggy Olimpia delle Tofane piste.

Robinson is competing in her third Olympics, having secured her first career win in the opening event of the season in St Moritz, followed by a second-place finish a week later in Val d'Isère.

She is next due to race in the women's alpine skiing Giant Slalom, run 1, on Sunday, 15 February at 10pm (NZT).

She became New Zealand's youngest-ever Winter Olympian when she attended the 2018 games in South Korea at the age of 16.

New Zealand has so far secured two medals this Games.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott claimed silver in the women's snowboarding Big Air on Tuesday - a record third medal in the event for Sadowski-Synott, who took silver in Beijing in 2022 and bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Then, on Wednesday, Luca Harrington brought home bronze in the men's Freeski Slopestyle.

- Additional reporting by Reuters