Sestriere, Italy – Bode Miller was trying to make up for lost time in Saturday’s super-G when he hooked a gate with his knee and went out of the race, narrowly averting a potentially dangerous crash.
“It was a crucial turn,” Miller said Sunday. “I hadn’t been skiing well up above. I knew I had to ski well right there.”
He made an amazing recovery on one ski after hitting the gate.
“I made a really good turn,” said Miller, who won the past two world championship titles in super-G. “I made the gate fine (with his skis), but I hooked my knee and it popped me up.
“I was pretty psyched with the save I made. It looked pretty impressive on TV, but it was actually more intense than it looked. I had to do some pretty evasive maneuvers with that back ski, trying to get myself back on balance so I didn’t arc straight into that fence.”
Miller was nearly a second behind gold-medal winner Kjetil Andre Aamodt at the second intermediate timing, just before his mishap.
“I just didn’t ski very well at the top,” Miller said. “I was hustling, I came in there with a good approach and I was pretty fired up. I attacked the course hard, but I just didn’t ski well.”
Miller has two more medal chances – today in the giant slalom and Saturday in the slalom.
