BORMIO, Italy — Bode Miller criticized race organizers Tuesday for canceling the season’s final World Cup downhill because of weather, a decision that allowed Didier Cuche to clinch his second straight discipline title.
The downhill race, scheduled for today, was canceled after organizers called off a training run Tuesday because of overnight snow and foggy conditions. The Swiss skier had a five-point lead on Miller heading into the race.
Miller, who leads in the overall World Cup standings, is vying with Cuche and Austrian Benjamin Raich for the overall title.
“The evidence points to they didn’t want to get the race off,” Miller said. “There was no discussion, or including the coaches or athletes. The athletes would have run today, no question.”
Miller holds a 169-point lead on Cuche in the overall standings, with Raich 264 points behind with three races left. Miller noted that a Swiss and Austrian coach were chosen to confer with race officials about canceling the training run.
“The Swiss have an angle to not race because their guy wins the title if we don’t race today, and it’s very risky for them to get that title if we do race,” he said. “The Austrians have an angle because they don’t want an extra bunch of points that Raich isn’t going to score — that me and Cuche would score — for the overall title.”
Cuche said he was “sorry to win it this way.”
World Cup rules require at least one training session before a downhill.
