Another big win for Bode Miller

Patrick Lang 13.01.2008 23:03 Uhr

Bode Miller is on a roll – after finishing 3rd in the Super-combined on Friday and 5th in slalom on Saturday, the 30-year-old skier from New Hampshire achieved another impressive performance today in becoming the only third skier in recent years to win for the second year in a row the prestigious “Lauberhorn” downhill raced by perfect weather and course conditions.

After an almost flawless run down the longest run on the World Cup tour, Miller beat by 65/100 of a second Switzerland’s favourite Didier Cuchde while Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis was a strong yet surprising 3rd 4/100 ahead of Austria’s Michael Walchhofer, a former winner here.

Andreas Buder was a solid 5th ahead of Slovenia’s Andrej Jerman and USA’s Marco Sullivan, who achieved his best ever performance on a “Classic” course after finishing on the podium at Lake Louise in November.

Hermann Maier, also a winner here yet on a shorter run in 1998, was 9th – his best result this winter in downhill. 1999 Downhill World Champion lost over two seconds on Miller yet he is less than a second far from the podium.

Marco Buechel, the fastest skier in Tuesday’s first training run, only came in a far 14th after a slow start in the upper gliding section.

Daniel Albrecht, “only” 27th, made-up a few points on Benjamin Raich in the Overall World Cup standings yet he is now in 4th place. Miller, 2nd at 79 points from Raich and Cuche, 3rd at 85 points passed ahead of him after this downhill.

Cuche regained the lead in the downhill standings, yet only with a single point lead on Miller four on Walchhofer.

Miller out of reach
Only two racers were able to win the prestigious Lauberhorn downhill two consecutive seasons in the last forty years of World Cup skiing – the great Franz Klammer in 1975-76-77 and Stephan Eberharter in 2002 and 2003!

Bode Miller, who equals Phil Mahre’s record of 27 World Cup wins with that triumph to become the most successful US Alpine racer on the World Cup tour, fought hard from the first to the last yard to put again his name on the long winners’ list of the “Classical” Lauberhorn races.

“It was clear to me that Didier Cuche would fully go for it today after achieving such a great run on Friday during the Super-combined event, so I was ready to take some extra risks on my way down,” the four-time World Champion explained. “It was good for my tactic that the course was not as fast and slick today as it was on Friday so I could take some chances here and there, especially in the middle part where I took a very tight line prior the “Hanegg-Schuss”,” Miller added.

“It was very exciting to put down the pedal gas from the start to the finish line, yet this time I didn’t need to fell in the finish line to win the race,” the “Boss” of “Team America” also said. “It’s a wonderful course and I’m very excited to have skied so well today.”

As in past weeks, the American who races now as an “independent” didn’t lose much time speaking of his chances to win again big Crystal globe but praised his staff which helped him to be in excellent shape at that stage of the season.

“We are only early January so why should I think about the Overall title, it will be early enough in March,” he said mentioning the World Cup.

“There is still a lot of racing ahead of us especially next week at Kitzbühel. I feel ready for another fine week, I’m skiing well and I’m very fit. My preparation for the season for excellent and I think that my new nutrition program is also helping me a lot this season. I don’t feel more tired today than earlier this week and this also explains why I enjoy entering all possible training runs.”

“I didn’t train as much downhill last summer but that’s OK because you don’t need so much anyway as long as you’re physically in good shape. This downhill and the last one from Bormio are surely the most challenging and the most exhausting ones on the tour so it really means something to win them. Depending on the snow conditions, Kitzbühel might not so difficult this year. We will see.”

While waiting on the issue of the race next to Cuche and Osborne-Paradis, Miller explained to his Swiss colleague where he was able to gain a lot of time on him. “He told me which line he took after the “Hundschopf” jump and the “Kernen-S” turns, he obviously charged all the way down today,” Cuche said.

“His line was certainly more direct than mine in the middle part, it was worth it for him but I’m still happy with my performance,” the Swiss added. “I was surely going for victory today after my strong run from Friday, but I knew that I needed a super-run to beat Bode today. I knew about his performance prior my start so I was aware that I had to raise my level a maximum.”

“It’s nice to regain the lead in the downhill standings but again, this was only the fifth downhill this season and so many are left. It’s for sure nice to be fighting again for the Cup but the most important is to get the red bib after the last race at Bormio!”

Cuche is looking for another big battle next week at Kitzbühel where he celebrated his very first win – exactly ten years ago! “It will for sure be exciting to fight gain with skiers like Bode or Michael there, it will be another highlight for us there.”

Manuel Osborne-Paradis on his side was elate to reach the podium of such a major competition after finishing once 2nd at Lake Louise and then 3rd at Val d’Isère in recent years. It’s the best Canadian performance here since Ed Podivinsky 3rd place in January 2000.

“I’m really proud of myself, it’s surely a wonderful result for me because this is such a big event,” said the skier from Whistler Mountain who has not done so well this season. His best result so far this winter was a 6th place at Val Gardena but he was only 40th and 50th at Lake Louise and Beaver Creek earlier this winter.

“I was confident at the start because I enjoy this kind of fresh and also wet snow, it’s like at home,” he explained. “It did some mistakes in the middle part but I kept on fighting till the end so it was quite impressive to receive such a round of applause at the arrival,” he added.

“It’s good for the team to have again somebody on the podium, especially after the crash of Jan Hudec the other day. This is good for my moral looking forward to Kitzbühel. I only raced once the downhill there so I don’t have so much experience but I’m only 23 so I still have a lot to learn.”

Michael Walchhofer too is aiming for a strong race next week on the “Streif” where he excelled in past years winning the downhill in January 2006.

“I had an OK run today, no big mistake but I’m still losing a lot on Miller and Cuche who are actually at the top,” the 2003 World Champion said. “The course at Kitzbühel is totally different from this one, I like it a lot. It’s surely the highlight of the season for us since there are no medal events this winter.”

The first training run on the “Streif” is set for Tuesday and the first race, the Super-G on Friday, followed by the downhill on Saturday and the slalom on Sunday. A huge crowd is again expected this year for the speed races which had to be cancelled last year due to lack of snow on the course.