Finally, Bode Miller won in Norway.
He skied a nearly flawless run Saturday to capture a World Cup downhill on Kvitfjell’s Olympic course. Miller finished 0.40 of a second ahead of Didier Cuche of Switzerland and increased his lead in the overall standings.
“It was good. I really pushed it hard,” said Miller, who covered the 1.9-mile course in 1 minute, 46.16 seconds.
Werner Heel of Italy was third a day after he edged Miller to win a downhill for his first World Cup victory.
This was Miller’s third downhill win of the season and the 31st World Cup victory of his career — way behind Ingemar Stenmark’s record total of 85.
Miller became the fourth American winner at Kvitfjell since Tommy Moe won gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Kyle Rasmussen won a World Cup downhill and finished third in a super-G in 1995.
Daron Rahlves won back-to-back downhills in 2000, a super-G in 2004 and finished third in a super-G in 2005.
Miller boosted his overall lead over Cuche, the defending downhill champion, and closed in on the Swiss star in the downhill standings.
“Yesterday, after only one training run, I really didn’t feel I could go 100 percent,” Miller said. “(Saturday), I knew what it was going to feel like. I knew the bumps. I cleaned up a few of the spots where I had trouble yesterday.”
Miller believes being an independent skier made him a better alpine racer.
“I feel good,” he said. “Fitnesswise I’m in great shape right now because of the dry-land training. I’m not tired at the bottom in these races. My energy is high.”
Americans Marco Sullivan and Steven Nyman crashed into a safety net coming into the final turn but escaped injury. Sullivan also crashed Friday.
