Fourth gold for Bode Miller

Bormio, Italy, Feb. 5th 2005 - In one of the most dramatic races of the season, USA's Bode Miller captured his second gold medal within a week, winning the men's downhill in spectacular style. The skier from New Hampshire, who started in 3rd position, beat by 44/100 of a second his teammate Daron Rahlves to become the first American male to clinch the World title in downhill. In 1985, Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen, who congratulated Bode at the finish line, won the title in skiing with bib Nr.1.

Austria's Michael Walchhofer, the defending champion, came in 3rd at 87/100 - yet he was still pleased by his result after hitting a stone with his right ski in the upper part of the course. The 2002 Olympic Champion Fritz “The Cat” Strobl was 4th and Switzerland's Bruno Kernen 5th, only a few hundredths short from another podium. He was 3rd in St Moritz two years ago.

Hermann Maier, who suffered a bad crash in Friday's last training run, was a distant 17th - 1,73 seconds behind the winner.

Miller, who won two World Cup downhill races earlier this season in North America, had to wait more than an hour before being assured to be the first non-Austrian the win the downhill gold medal at World Championships since the triumph of Bruno Kernen in Sestriere in February 1997. Half an hour after his arrival, he was still sceptic about his chances to reach the podium in today's event. “I attacked a lot but I had a few bubbles on my way down,” he admitted while speaking to various TV stations. “I lost much time in the lower part too, so I think it will be tough to remain among the top-3.”

A big win for USA

Yet, the champion from New England was still in the lead after the arrival of other favourites as Daron Rahlves or Johann Grugger. The tension was escalading when Walchhofer and Strobl were cruising down the treacherous “Stelvio” course. “I just watched them, there is nothing else I could do, but Daron was jumping up-and-down, he was very nervous,” Bode said afterwards. “After the race of Hermann, I knew we made it. It's huge for our team to have finished 1-2 in this race, it's as big for me as the Patriots hopefully winning the Superbowl on Sunday night.”

“I guess the course must have deteriorated, giving the others a rougher time, but I knew this could happen. That's why I decided yesterday to clock a slow time in the last training run. I opened the start-gate with a pole to add some extra time to my run. I wanted to have a number between one and ten. At the end, I was lucky to get bib Nr. 3.”
“It was a smart tactical choice. I knew that the visibility would not be so good, but at least the course was in great shape in the technical turns where I could make-up much time on the rest of the field.”

“At the end of the day, I didn't see a lot in some parts, so I made more mistakes than I planned but my turns were mostly ok. I skied hard all along and apparently it was good enough.”

Bode proved once more how relaxed he is at the start in remaining quiet and confident while waiting for more than ten minutes in the start-hut that the safety nets put down by Russia's Horoshilov were repaired. “It was hot and my googles caught some mist, but it was fine, I normally only need 30 seconds to be totally focused before a race,” he explained.

Rahlves, a World Cup winner on the Bormio downhill course in December 2002, said he had also faced an anxious wait while watching the top Austrians come down the hill. “I was really nervous as Walchhofer came down because I had also made some mistakes at the top,” said the 31-year-old former Super-G World Champion. “To be second is a great reward for me after my bad crash in Adelboden. It's my first downhill race for a long time. I definitely won silver rather than losing gold.”

Miller has now been crowned World Champion four times, in four different events - quite an impressive achievement. He aims now for more medals - hopefully in gold - in the coming races, especially in the new team event in eight days! So far, Kjetil Aamodt is the only other champion to have done so well recently in medal events with gold in Super-G (1992/2002), slalom and giant slalom (1993) and combined (1997,1999,2001,2002).

Walchhofer was pleased

Aside from Walchhofer's strong bronze medal, there was disappointment on Saturday for the Austrian favorites. “The course definitely got slower for the last skiers,” said Head Coach Toni Giger after congratulating the American winner. “We were hoping that it would get faster, but it was the opposite.”

Walchhofer - for sure as true sportsman and a gentleman - was a gracious loser. “I was really amazed to see that I was 3rd after my run, I didn't expect to me among the top-10,” he said. “After hitting that stone, I had huge problems keeping my right ski under control. I fought hard but it was really tough and I was sure to lose much time on the winner. I was ready for a great race and I didn't mind the rough course.”

The skier from Zauchensee will not become the first downhill World Champion to successfully defend his title - but his bronze medal is worth a lot.

In Sunday's women's downhill, his teammate Lindsey Kildow will try to imitate him. The other top favourites are Michaela Dorfmeister and Renate Goetschl from Austria, Janica Kostelic and Anja Paerson, the winners here in combined and Super-G

Patrick Lang