Robinson, who four years ago became New Zealand's youngest Olympian, still has one event to come, but her participation in Tuesday's downhill race will now depend on how she recovers from the crash. Video / Sky Sport
Alice Robinson took a simple mindset into today's super G - she was going to finish the race either "on the podium or in the fence".
Unfortunately for the Kiwi alpine skier, her participation in the event ended in the latter.
Robinson's disappointing Olympics continued this afternoon when she crashed out of the super G, leaving her bruised but with few regrets about her signature aggressive approach.
The 20-year-old, who headed to Beijing with genuine medal hopes, had been wanting to rebound from a poor performance in Monday's giant slalom, when she finished 22nd in her favoured event.
But after making an electric start to her solitary super G run at the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Centre, Robinson caught her ski in the snow, smashed into a gate and was sent tumbling down the mountain.
The Queenstown skier was quickly approached by a medic but, after taking a few moments to collect herself, was able to ski down the course.
Robinson limped off her skis at the bottom but later confirmed she had suffered no serious injuries, intending still to race in Tuesday's downhill.
"I'll be OK, just a little bit banged up, but I'm fine," she told Sky Sport. "I just told myself I was going to go for it today and not leave anything out there.
"The start was going really well but I just caught my ski in the wrong place and shinned a gate and went down pretty hard. So it sucks."
Robinson is known for her bold style and that was on display early in her run, stopping the clock at the first time check 0.06 seconds ahead of Swiss leader and eventual champion Lara Gut Behrami.
But the Kiwi had slipped 0.21s off the pace by the second split, and knowing the finest of margins would determine the podium in the speed event, her direct line soon proved her undoing.
Alice Robinson crashes into a flag during the women's Super G. Photo / AP
Robinson however had no qualms about her strategy, keen to show her true abilities after a wayward effort in the giant slalom.
"I wanted to be on the podium or I was going to be in the fence," she said. "I ended up in the fence and it happens like that sometimes."
Robinson's co-coach Chris Knight later said she would take her place in the downhill. But that event was a distant third in her priorities in Beijing, having won three World Cup events in the giant slalom and shown rapid improvements in the super G.
Four years after becoming New Zealand's youngest Olympian at the PyeongChang Games, Robinson's focus was already switching to the future.
"It sucks but, at the end of the day, it's just two races in my career and there's still a long way for me to go," she said. "I was fast today and I'm skiing well - unfortunately it just didn't click together.
"But that's life and I've just got to keep going. I've still got a lot of important races this year when I get back to Europe, in the World Cup, so I'm just going to focus on that."
Robinson had achieved a career-best fourth in the super G in St Moritz in December before contracting Covid and being forced to miss the following week's race in France.
She showed when she returned to super G races in Zauchensee and Cortina d'Ampezzo in January that the St Moritz result had been no aberration, finishing seventh and ninth, but was unable to perform to her best on the biggest stage.
Italians had dominated the World Cup season, winning six of the seven super G races, but they were upstaged by reigning world champion Gut-Behrami, the Swiss star winning with a time of 1:13.51.
Austria's Mirjam Puchner claimed silver in 1:13.73 with Swiss skier Michelle Gisin taking bronze in 1:13.81.
Defending Olympic champion Ester Ledecka - who won her second straight parallel snowboard gold earlier in the week - couldn't repeat on the skis and finished fifth, while American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin finally completed a race, coming home ninth after crashing out of the giant slalom and slalom.
Meanwhile, Kiwi speed skater Peter Michael has been unable to replicate his efforts from PyeongChang, finishing last in the men's 10,000m.
Michael, who was fourth in both the 5000m and team pursuit at the 2018 Games, started in the first pairing at the National Speed Skating Oval tonight and recorded a time of 13:33.53.
That was 34.73 seconds behind Canadian former world-record holder Graeme Fish, who lapped Michael in the 25-lap event, with the Kiwi's time over a minute slower than gold medallist Nils van der Poel, and 31 seconds behind 11th place as he finished a distant 12th in the 12-man event.
Van der Poel won his second gold medal of the Games with a world record time, claiming gold by a whopping 13.8 seconds.
The event concluded Michael's involvement in Beijing, having finished 26th out of 29 competitors in the 1500m on Tuesday night.
