COPPER MOUNTAIN — The last time the alpine world championships were held at Beaver Creek in 1999, Bode Miller was relatively unknown but looked like a star in the making. He was 21, stubborn and headstrong. In a memorable interview that hinted at the persona he would become, Miller admitted he sometimes asked coaches for feedback merely to “humor” them.
If Miller’s tender back will allow him to compete when the world championships return to Beaver Creek in February, he will be the rare racer who also competed there in 1999. Now 37, with a body battered by two decades of racing, a collection of six Olympic medals (including bronze at Sochi last February), five world championships medals and 79 World Cup podiums, why is he back for more?
“I do it because I love it, because of the experience I had last year at the Olympics, and because of the intensity that I can still bring tothe sport,” Miller said recently. “It’s still a pleasure to do. I’ve earned the right to do this by the sacrifices I’ve made and the time I’ve committed. It’s a privilege to be able to go out and ski at that level.”
Miller already has established himself as America’s greatest male ski racer with his medals and two World Cup overall titles, but he wants to experience the excitement and intensity of major-event racing one more time.
“It’s not to win more races or prove anything to anyone,” Miller said. “I think that stuff’s already been done. I do try to win, but it’s for different reasons. If my back is not manageable and I can’t figure it out, I’ll be done.”
On Monday Miller had surgery to address a degenerative disc in his back. If his recovery goes as hoped, he will be racing again in January, revving up for Beaver Creek.
“World championships is always a motivation, I think more so maybe for older skiers than for younger skiers,” Miller said. “After doing everything a million times, World Cups don’t necessarily instill the same amount of inspiration or the same thrill to get you up — a little bit scared, a little bit apprehensive — and allow you to feed on that stuff and bring out the very best in what you can do. The Olympics or the world championships is the next level up.
“At Beaver Creek, the world championships will be that kind of environment where guys will be excited, they’ll be a little bit scared, they’ll know it’s a unique opportunity. As an older athlete you definitely look for those opportunities to really try to get something special out of yourself.”
Miller competed at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, crashing in giant slalom and slalom. When he got to Beaver Creek in 1999, he was in his first full season on the World Cup. At a world championships forever remembered for the titanic battles between Lasse Kjus of Norway (five medals) and Hermann Maier of Austria (two gold), Miller finished 26th in super-G, 18th in giant slalom, eighth in slalom.
“I was on the way up,” Miller said. “That was a really fun steppingstone because I definitely took it as a learning experience. The year before at the Olympics I had nothing, had nowhere near the experience in terms of actually feeling like I belonged and like I was eventually going to win. At that world championships I could see how it was going to work.”
He now hopes to close the arc of his career with a final hurrah at Beaver Creek — if his back will allow it.
“I’m not going to break my back before I retire,” Miller said. “If it’s not doable, it’s not doable.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or
Bode Miller achievements
Olympic medals: 2002, silver in giant slalom and combined; 2010, gold in super combined, silver in super-G, bronze in downhill; 2014, bronze in super-G
World championships medals: 2003, gold in GS and combined, silver in super-G; 2005, gold in downhill and super-G
World Cup overall titles: 2005, 2008
World Cup wins: 33 (seventh all-time among men)
World Cup podiums: 79
