The 23-year-old Queenstown skier made history yesterday when she became the first Kiwi to win a medal at the alpine racing world championships.
Robinson glided to silver in the giant slalom at the Saalbach resort in Austria.
New Zealand’s previous best at the world championships had been her own fourth placing in 2021 that matched Claudia Riegler’s efforts in 1996.
"I honestly didn’t even really think about it until I looked up at a graphic after my first run and it said this could be New Zealand’s first world champs medal," Robinson told the Otago Daily Times from Austria.
"That’s pretty cool. It’s always a privilege and a cool feeling for me to bring New Zealand into the sport of ski racing because it’s such a European and North American sport.
"It’s quite high-profile in countries like Austria, so it’s really cool for me to be at these events and represent New Zealand.
"I try to treat every race as just another race. I don’t try to think about results too much. But yeah, it’s cool to get New Zealand’s first medal here."
It is not like New Zealand snow sports have been in the shadows of late.
While the exploits of daredevil athletes in freeskiing and snowboarding have led to a heavy Kiwi presence on those circuits, a world championship medal in the more traditional winter discipline will carry a lot of weight.
"It’s been so inspiring for me to see those guys doing really well and it’s awesome for snow sports in New Zealand to have so many people doing well," Robinson said.
"For a really traditional sport like ski racing, it’s really cool to be able to bring New Zealand to it."
Her Austrian silver medal continues a period of career-changing success for Robinson.
She has made the podium in 10 of her past 12 events, won the Kronplatz round of the giant slalom world cup, and shot to the lead in the overall world cup standings.
It is reward for her patience and hard work following some difficult times that followed an Olympic debut at 16 and a second Olympic appearance in which she was deflated to crash out of one event and fail to make the top 20 in the other.
"I had a couple of tough years — and the last Olympics were part of that — but even last year, I felt I was skiing really well.
"I’m really excited and just really happy. It was a bit of a relief to be able to pull it off today.
"I knew I was in a good spot. I wasn’t nervous at all. I just felt like I knew what I had to do."
Robinson hailed the support of her family. Her parents and sister, along with some friends, were in Austria to see her race.
"They’re loving it and it’s been really cool for me to have them here."
A world championship medal is nice.
But skiers crave Winter Olympic glory, and Robinson will get a third shot at Milano-Cortina in about a year.
"The Olympics are always such a big deal, especially coming from somewhere like New Zealand.
"For sure, it’s in the back of my mind. But what’s been working for me recently has just been focusing on each race every weekend, and letting the results take care of themselves."
The grind does not stop. Robinson has two more world cup races in Italy next week then a hectic schedule until the end of March.
Yesterday, the weather was clear and the temperature was rising at Saalbach, and Robinson was proud of herself for dealing with the variable spring snow conditions, which are not her favourite.
She put out a blistering first run, reading the terrain well and settling quickly into her rhythm as she made her way down the physically demanding course.
Italian skier Federica Brignone set the fastest first run time with Robinson just 0.67sec behind her.
Robinson flew down the course in her second run, skiing dynamically and gaining speed and advantage at every interval, taking the race lead by 1.72sec with just Brignone left to ski.
The Italian showed her class again to claim gold by 0.9sec, marking the first time an Italian woman has won the giant slalom world title in 28 years. American skier Paula Moltzan was third.
