Yesterday afternoon more than 150 Wakatipu High School pupils assembled in the new school foyer to watch classmate and ski racer Alice Robinson (16) make history by becoming the youngest New Zealand Winter Olympian.
Alice was to have competed in the slalom on Wednesday, but inclement weather meant that event was rescheduled and is now expected to take place today from 2pm, NZ time. That meant Alice’s attempt at the giant slalom yesterday would mark her first appearance for New Zealand at a Winter Olympics.
The excitement was palpable as Alice, in bib 35, was set to compete in the giant slalom at 3.04pm, with her classmates ready to cheer her on from afar.
It was not to be.
Initially there were problems trying to stream the race and it took about an hour, several laptops, countless smartphones and all the technological savvy available to finally screen the event at the school just minutes before Alice’s race.
But then disaster struck. An athlete crashed on the course, resulting in a collective gasp from the pupils gathered to watch their friend.
That came just in time to show Alice crosssing the finish line, prompting senior deputy principal Oded Nathan to ask: "How could they do that?"
Principal Steve Hall said the small amount of footage shown of Alice indicated "she didn’t look happy".
After her first run of 1 minute 16.66 seconds the Queenstown teenager was in 37th place in the field of 81.
She completed her second run in the early evening in an improved time of 1min 14.52sec to finish 35th overall but failed to qualify.
Mr Hall said having a school pupil at the Winter Olympics was an unbelievable achievement and they would do everything they could to ensure her slalom races today were live-streamed, and he hoped those watching would actually get to see her race.
Duncan Campbell, also from Queenstown, competed yesterday in the men’s snowboard-cross. He was 32nd in the first seeding run, but failed to finish the second.
