3rd Gold for Bode Miller

Bormio, Italy, Jan. 29th - New Hampshires's Bode Miller clinched his third World Championships Gold medal today in winning a thrilling Super-G despite a big mistake in the upper part of the demanding Stelvio course. The 27-year-old athlete from Franconia, who already captured Gold two years ago in giant slalom and combined in Switzerland's St Moritz, overcome a big error after the San Pietro jump to beat by 12/100 of a second Austria's Michael Walchhofer and by 68/100 Benjamin Raich.

Hermann Maier was a disappointed 4th - his worse Super-G result in a medal event since 1998! Maier, who leads the Super-G standings after his superb win in Kitzbühel on Monday, struggled on the technical opening section, coming home well off Miller's pace in fourth. In St Moritz, he shared the silver medal with the American behind Stephan Eberharter.

Marco Buechel from Liechtenstein was 5th followed by Germany's surprising Florian Eckert who achieved his best performance since finishing 3rd in downhill in St Anton in February 2001.

It was a more disappointing day for other favourites as California's Daron Rahlves, 2nd in Kitzbühel last Monday and only 10th here. Norway's Lasse Kjus certainly expected more than a 11th place while Kjetil Aamodt was a distant 22nd just behind Austria's Stephan Goergl, the winner from Beaver Creek.

Miller was surprized

Incredibly enough, Bode Miller was somehow surprised by his victory after his race. “I should not have reached the podium after such a mistake, I was really upset when I touched the snow with my bottom after that huge jump and I even said some bad words to myself,” he explained afterwards.
“I was ready to accept one mistake because I know it's tough for me to achieve a perfect run when I'm attacking hard - and I did it again today,” Bode continued. “But I didn't want such a bad one - maybe I needed it to get me to push and push harder. I was definitely lucky. I was not happy at all at the arrival. I didn't think it would be enough!”
“It definitely means a lot to me,” Miller also said. “I've felt for a long time that I could do it in the speed events and this is awesome. Super-G has become sort of my best event, but as one could see in Kitzbühel, it can be really difficult to always reach your potential. My goal today was to execute as well as possible my plan - I didn't feel especially nervous, I was ready for a great race.”

“In fact, I felt strange today at the start, really good. I knew this is a perfect snow for my way of skiing. It is very similar to the one we found in St. Moritz. The slope is really beautiful. At the beginning, I had some problems with a stick, which is usually a bad sign for me. I then tried to be aggressive - almost too much!”

Take all risks.

“I know this slope very well for the downhill run, and I know I could loose a lot of time on that flat San Pietro section. I didn't think I could do best time after that mistake, I just thought I could reach the podium. From that section on, I started cutting lines and being really aggressive. On such a slope, during the World Championships, you have to take all the risks you feel able to take”.

“It is not true that I am in a bad shape. There are many good athletes who can win, and there is a keen competition. When you take high risks it is possible to make some mistakes. For the whole season I have tried to start every race in the best mental and physical shape. As I did it here!”

“I don't think this has been one of the most difficult Super-G races of the season. In fact, I believe it has been one of the easiest, because of the good snow conditions. The slope was perfect, really smooth. It's the best possible snow for a Super-G.”

Bode's 4th medal!

At the Press Conference, Bode was sort of amused by some of the question of the journalists who still have sometimes a hard to understand his attitude and his mentality.

“The value of this medal? When an athlete wins a medal, he's just happy because he's having a great day, he doesn't start to reflect and analyse on it. You enjoy the moment completely, and then it goes on. For me the World Cup is perhaps more important, but I am really happy for this medal. Sometimes, you win with a good race and sometimes with a bad one. For me today it has been both. I made some errors, but I was very good in other sections.”

“I am particularly happy because Super-G is a very difficult event. It is not possible to really test the slope with a training run, you're only allowed for an inspection, and there is just a little margin allowed for mistakes. For these reasons, I would just say that this medal is...the fourth of my career!”

Walchhofer and Raich ready for more!

Michael Walchhofer's silver medal is a sign that he is in perfect shape to defend his downhill World title next weekend! He was clearly in the lead at the intermediate times, but he could not keep-up with Miller in the final part.

“It's really fantastic, a great start for me,” said the innkeeper from Zauchensee with a big smile. “My goal here is to defend my downhill title and to get a medal already is great. I skied well today but Bode was really fast at the bottom. He is going to be one of my toughest rivals in downhill.”
Raich, who is developing into an excellent all-rounder after starting out in slalom and giant slalom, was particularly pleased to have collected his first bronze medal in a speed event.
“For a former slalom skier to win a medal in Super-G is wonderful,” said the Tyrolian who already clinched silver in slalom in 2001 and an Olympic bronze in 2002. “I did a very good performance and it is amazing that I was able to finish ahead of Maier,” he added. “I watched his run - he was not skiing as well and normally. But I'm sure he will fight back!”
“Now I will be even more relaxed for the coming races. I'm looking forward for an exciting combined. I guess it will be a tough fight with Bode.”

The women will compete on Sunday in their first race in Santa Caterina - also a Super-G. The skier to beat is Austria's Renate Goetschl, the great dominator in Cortina d'Ampezzo. But Lindsey Kildow will certainly be very inspired by Bode's performance!

Patrick Lang