WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — The U.S. failed to win a medal today in men’s giant slalom, the first alpine event without an American medal at the Vancouver Games.
Bode Miller, who won medals in all three of his previous events, spun out of the race on the first run. Teammate Ted Ligety, a former World Cup giant slalom champion finished his second run in fourth position.
Carlo Janka of Switzerland won the gold medal after he posted a combined two-run time of 2 minutes, 37.83 seconds. He added the Olympic title to the world title he won last year.
Norway took the silver and bronze medals. Kjetil Jansrud was 0.41 seconds back in second, to jump from 11th after the first run, and Aksel Lund Svindal was 0.45 back for bronze, matching Bode Miller’s three-medal tally at the Vancouver Games.
Miller skied out during his first run when pursuing a record fourth Alpine medal in a single Olympics.
Pre-race favorite Ted Ligety of the United States finished ninth, 0.60 seconds behind Janka. Ligety is the defending giant slalom World Cup champ.
Norway’s Leif Kristian Haugen, who skies for the University of Denver, finished 28th out of 103 skiers in the event.
Miller almost crashed in the top half of the course on the first run and then couldn’t correct his line coming out of a right-hand gate in the second half.
“I’m taking more risk than everyone else. That’s partly why I’m able to get medals,” Miller told The Associated Press afterward.
“I did a good job today, too,” he continued. “I was right there. I was right on the edge.” U.S. men’s head coach Sasha Rearick said Miller “was skiing with passion” but paid the price when he tried to make up time.
“Bode skied great up top and then went down on his hip, made a recovery like only Bode can but came in late to the next panel and hooked a gate with his hand,” Rearick said. “He then made another spectacular recovery and went straight back into hammering the line.” The 32-year-old Miller, from Franconia, N.H.., won gold in the super-combined, silver in super-G and bronze in downhill, and was trying to become the first Alpine skier to win four medals in the same Olympics. His last chance will be in the slalom scheduled for Saturday.
Austria’s “Wunderteam” was shut out of the men’s medals for the fourth straight race at these games, settling for the 4-5-6 finishers in Marcel Hirscher, Romed Baumann and Benjamin Raich.
Neighbor and big rival Switzerland now has two Alpine golds; Didier Defago won the downhill a week earlier.
Janka is known as the Iceman at home for his cool emotions, and his celebration was typically understated. He shook his ski poles low to the ground and then raised his arms above his head, allowing himself a smile of satisfaction.
Two days earlier, Janka had walked away angrily from the super-combined event where he finished fourth.
He arrived at the Olympics second in the World Cup overall standings and was projected by many as a breakout star. But Janka was a disappointing 11th in the Olympic downhill and eighth in super-G — just 0.18 second behind bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht of the U.S. — before missing a super-combi medal by 0.22, in a race won by Miller on Sunday.
Jansrud had never won a top-level race but continued his recent excellent run in giant slalom. He had top-3 finishes three times in World Cup races last month.
Svindal was third after the first run but made a big mistake in the top half of his run. He sat back on his skis approaching a left-hand gate and lost speed.
The weather-plagued Alpine program is now back on schedule. The GS was originally set for Sunday but was bumped two days to accommodate the delayed men’s super-combined.
Whistler has enjoyed a week-long dry spell, although racers skied in overcast conditions Tuesday.
Some rain and snow is forecast for Wednesday, when the women’s giant slalom is scheduled.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
