By Jasmine Ng.
Kiwi skier Alice Robinson isn't letting COVID-19 ruin her build-up for February's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, after testing positive for the virus last week
The 20-year-old says she's already bouncing back, crediting her fast recovery to being double vaccinated.
"I'm feeling fine," says Robinson.
"I had a cold for a couple of days and now I'm feeling pretty much normal.
"That's kind of the perks of being double vaxxed, you don't get very sick. So I've been very lucky."
Depending on a final negative test result, Robinson's 10 days of self-isolation ends on December 23, meaning the skier will miss out on this week's back-to-back Giant Slalom events in Courchevel, France.
With Beijing just around the corner, Robinson admits it's not ideal preparation, but the medal prospect's taking it in her stride.
"It's definitely put a spanner in my original plan of going to Beijing and doing every World Cup race, but it's just a part of life at the moment and you've got to be adaptable.
"I've still got quite a few competitions and I've still got over a month until Beijing, so I should be fully recovered and able to get back into it as quickly as I can.
"That's what I'm aiming for now - when I get over this [COVID], put it behind me and not dwell on it, and think that it's put me back on track.
"I just kind of need to move on and try to get back into it as quickly as I can."
Robinson says the biggest battle is keeping a healthy mindset.
"Mentally is always a bit of a challenge, when you're doing this stuff overseas and you're far away from home.
"It's definitely tough, but I've been doing this stuff for a while, I'm used to doing things on my own... I just try to be tough and stick it out.
"It's difficult to have COVID, but at the end of the day I'm doing well, I'm not that sick, I'm over [here] doing what I love, skiing and competing and that's what I love doing.
"I just try to find the positives in everything."
Now all Robinson can do is hope for a Christmas miracle - return a negative test result before the Lienz Giant Slalom in Austria on December 28.
"I guess my celebration for Christmas this year is that I test negative for COVID - that's all I want for Christmas is just a negative COVID test."
