Queenstown Olympians do us proud

Queenstown ski racer Alice Robinson, competing at her third Winter Olympics, completed eighth of 76 within the big slalom (GS) in a single day on Sunday — simply 0.18 seconds away from a medal.

Late on Thursday evening, Robinson, 24, additionally completed eighth of 43 within the super-G — a race wherein 17 girls recorded ‘DNF’, or didn’t end.

They’re her greatest Olympic finishes so far.

Talking after the top of her Milano Cortina marketing campaign, Robinson advised Sky Sport she’d been ‘‘in a little bit of a gap’’ in her favoured GS occasion previous to the Olympics.

‘‘I simply felt like I couldn’t ski it any extra, I simply felt so lifeless.

‘‘So for me to have the ability to come out right here … on the largest race of the yr, with all that doubt and unhealthy lead-up, and to have the ability to put down two runs that have been practically a medal was, I suppose, a very good end result for me.

‘‘I nonetheless know I may have skied higher, however the confidence nonetheless wasn’t, I believe, the place it wanted to be to be actually pushing the boundaries fully.

‘‘So I do know I may have been in there, however with what I had … I believe I did a very good job.’’

The excellent news is, she nonetheless has time on her aspect.

The winner of the GS was Italy’s Federica Brignone — she additionally gained the super-G — who’s 36.

‘‘I used to be like, I positively need to maintain ski racing for one more 4 years now,’’ Robinson laughed.

The long run’s additionally brilliant for Queenstown freeskier Ruby Star Andrews, 21, who completed her first Olympic marketing campaign on Sunday, putting twenty fourth within the freeski massive air — an occasion she wasn’t even certain she was going to compete in a few days out.

After dislocating her hip in Austria in November, Star Andrews had a race towards the clock to arrange for the Olympics, and main in to her final occasion she’d skilled a ‘‘fairly robust couple of days of practices’’, which had examined her psychological resilience.

‘‘I simply needed to point out up … and provides it every thing and stroll away being pleased with myself and make my household proud and my nation proud.

‘‘I used to be simply feeling loads of stress and, like, the nerves and it was simply so particular to show to myself that I may put it down when it mattered … and no matter in regards to the end result; I’m simply actually blissful to be snowboarding, and I’m actually blissful to be wholesome.’’

Meantime Hawai’i-based Arrowtown Olympian Lyon Farrell, 27, completed fifteenth out of 30 within the males’s snowboard slopestyle qualifier, lacking the finals, following a top-10 end within the snowboard massive air.

tracey.roxburgh@scene.co.nz