Chamonix, France – Fresh from a week playing golf in the desert of Dubai, American Bode Miller finished third today in a World Cup super-combined race seven days before the opening ceremonies at the Turin Olympics.
At the foot of the dramatic Mont Blanc massif near the Italian border, Miller overcame a major mistake in the downhill and rebounded with a slalom run he called “decent” to join Austrians Benjamin Raich and Rainer Schoenfelder on the podium. Teammate Ted Ligety finished 10th after posting the day’s fastest slalom.
The super-combined is a new World Cup discipline comprised of a shortened downhill run and one run of slalom. Traditional combined events are comprised of a downhill and two slalom runs, usually run on different days. Today’s regular downhill marks the last race before the Turin Games.
Miller only had one downhill training run because of his brief vacation in Dubai and it probably cost him tactically in today’s downhill. He had the second-fastest split time just above a compression where he got bounced off line and brushed the course with his hip. The mistake cost him critical speed entering a flat section and he finished eighth in the downhill.
“It’s bumpy and it’s dark in there,” Miller said. “My skis started bouncing a bit and I kind of eased off it and they started bouncing more. I went into a compression with one ski and shot out way out to the right in the powder, but I got myself back in it.”
The race marked Miller’s sixth podium of the season. The reigning World Cup overall champion is third in the standings and has all but conceded this year’s title to Raich. Last year he won seven races and was on the podium 14 times. This year he has won once – a giant slalom at Beaver Creek in December – and been on the podium six times.
His decision to skip last week’s races in Garmisch, Germany, ended an ironman streak of 136 straight starts since March 2002.
For months Miller has expressed reservations about the Olympics straying from their founding ideals and his ability to find the motivation to perform there. He hasn’t found any answers, but he will be there anyway.
“I don’t think there was any confusion, it was just a matter of trying to compromise my beliefs.” Miller said. “I’ve come to terms with it, a little bit. It doesn’t mean I’ve rationalized it to myself very well, but apparently enough that I’m planning on going and competing. There are still days even now when I really believe if I could make an impact that was effective by doing something different, that would be a viable option for me, but I really don’t think there’s any chance of that.”
