Bode Miller

Intriguing and unconventional, charismatic and spectacular! There are numerous ways to describe Bode Miller, the US Rocky of the 2002 season who's apparently on a mission since his younger age - to become the fastest if not the best skier on the world.

The 24-year-old US champion from New Hampshire who switched to Rossignol skis last spring is probably the new landmark in the technical disciplines - for sure the most attractive for his fans including Norway's triple Olympic Champion Kjetil Aamodt, amazed by his incredible second run in the combined slalom at Snowbasin. ³I have never seen anybody skiing so fast in a slalom in my entire career² said the Scandinavian after the race. A strong comment for somebody who used to challenge superstars as Alberto Tomba or Marc Girardelli!
Austria's veteran Stephan Eberharter may well have dominated the 2002 winter with his 10 World Cup wins, his three Crystal Cups and his Olympic medals but Bode was one of its greatest heroes. The crowd just loves his aggressive style and his go-for-it attitude which makes him ending races even after majors errors or crashes. His four victories in slalom and GS as well as his two silver medals at the 2002 Winter Games should only be his first steps into ski greatness. He can beat the records of the Mahre twins, two of the ski legends of the early 1980's as he battles against the ³Euros² for World Cup supremacy in the coming winters.
He was already close to conquer his first slalom Cup in Flachau where he came in 2nd to Ivica Kostelic after another amazing competition. In the first run, Bode had problems to find his best rhythm and lost much time on his pal from Croatia. He had a good reason for his problems - he competed with his downhill boots! In the afternoon he put back his slalom boots and regained almost all the lost time. Almost - Ivica was still a few hundredths ahead of him, enough to collect a deserved crown in front of a enchanted public.

First Podium at Val d'Isere

It's in November 1997 that Miller¹s star began to shine over the ³White Circus² when he competed in a GS at Park City, Utah, in his very first World Cup race ever. A member of the US Squad for a year after clinching bronze in slalom at the 1996 US Nationals, Bode started his first major race in 69th position in a field of 71! He reached an impressive 11th place, the best result in years for a US skier in that event. Three months later, he was qualified for the Olympics at Nagano. He took as usual all risks in slalom and GS - and didn not finished (DNF) the second runs. But it didn't alter his faith and his determination.
The next season, he shortly missed the podium on the World Cup tour as he ended twice 4th at Wengen and Ofterschwang despite high startnumbers. He was also 8th in slalom at the FIS Worlds at Vail. Finally in December 2000, he succeeded at Val d'Isere - finishing 3rd in a GS won by Michael von Grunigen.
Another great achievement was up in the air later on in February 2001 when he took 4th place in the combined slalom of the FIS World Championships. A fair downhill skier, Bode seemed able to fight for a medal - even gold - against Aamodt, the winner of the slalom portion, and Austria's Mario Matt and Rainer Schoenfelder, 2nd and 3rd in the slalom. In fact, the US skier was the fastest at the top of the speed run before another spectacular crash into the nets. He lost his first medal that day and seriously injured his knees.
He suffered cartilage damages at his meniscus and tore his left anterior cruciate ligament which forced his to fly back home.
At Vail, Colorado, the US Ski Team physician Richard Steadman took well care of him in his famous clinic. He first fixed Bode's knee cartilage damage with arthroscopic surgery then stimulated his torn ligament as he wanted to check if it could reattach itself naturally.
Luckily, the injury healed by itself - Miller didn't need full reconstructive knee surgery and a long and painful rehabilitation. A few months after the accident, his knees were recovering perfectly so that he didn't lose too much time going back on his skis and training hard again.

On Phil Mahre's path

Bode was on a roll afterwards and ready for more during the 2002 Olympic season. A strong start at Soelden where he was 5th - he was aiming for more - increased his momentum. At Aspen, where the first World Cup slaloms of the season took place in front a nice crowd, the spectators including members of his family watch him applying his usual tactic - triumph or bust! On Sunday, he missed a strong chance to win the first race after crashing once more at the second run.
Then on Monday, he better channeled his aggressiveness and took a superb 2nd place behind the reigning world champion Mario Matt. It was the best US result in slalom for more than a decade and Bode scored his first slalom points for two years.
Two weeks later he fell again shortly at the beginning of his second run in a GS at Val d'Isere - but this didn't prevent him to win his first race in the French resort 26 years after Phil Mahre. He kept on imitating his glorious predecessor the next day at Madonna di Campiglio when he dominated the slalom, becoming only the third champion after Italy's Olympian Piero Gros and Sweden's Superstar Ingemar Stenmark to celebrate back-to-back victories in these two ³Classics².
Incredibly enough, he had a car accident before the race: as he wanted to warm up his boots, he switched on the ignition forgetting that the car was in gear. The car jumped forward into a tree - typical Bode Miller! He never looses his temper and his nerves.
A strong contender for the Overall World Cup crown in the coming winters, Bode Miller is perfectly able to continue to follow Phil Mahre's path in future.

An Overall skier

As the legendary champion from White Pass, Miller enjoys competing in all events - skiing as fast as possible. Yet he is smart enough to see his actual limits in the speed events. He knows that he needs more practice to excel also in downhill and Super-G. A few years ago, he already survived a bad spill at Kitzbuhel while speeding down the ³Streif². Yet he feels able to dramatically improve his level in the coming years and consistently score top-10 results in all events - the best if not the only way to secure the Overall World Cup.
He is already a favorite in the hearts of the ski fans who adore his fairness, his determination and his awesome technique which allow him to win runs by seconds as in Adelboden where he beat Kostelic by 1,92 !
A true tightrope walker on skis, Bode may well revolutionize slalom skiing with his unique and relaxed style which helps him to cut the shortest way through the slalom gates. An excellent and well balanced athlete, the American has perfectly developed his instinct and talent in practicing many other sports including snowboarding. He considers himself also as a potential world class soccer and tennis player. During summertime, he serves as counselor at family's Tamarack Tennis Camp and at his uncle's Soccer Camp. Last summer, he also enjoyed playing golf and also showed some potential there!
By the way, he earned 35'000 dollars in springtime after winning a Superstar event held at Half Moon Resort in Jamaica where he stunned the spectators by his physical abilities. He beat other top-champions as former moguls expert Johnny Moseley, speed-skater Apolo Ohno, skeleton star Jim Shea or other famous football players.
Equipped now by Rossignol Skis, Bode Miller is now convinced to use the best possible material to achieve his potential during the coming winters. Many medals at St Moritz and a few Crystal Cups are part of his goals for the 2003 season.
The experience gained during recent seasons should help him to become more consistent and more focused. Miller is aware of the fact that he lost several races in taking more risks than necessary - as in Alta Badia or Kranjska Gora. On the other hand, it's also part of his character and his dedication to excellence. As the great Tomba, Miller acts as a ski artist who wants all the time give his best when performing in front of a crowd - or skiing by himself.

The man from the White Mountains

Bode resembles in many ways Italy's flamboyant idol who perfectly displayed his talent and his charisma on and off the slopes from 1987 to 1998! Both are great communicators and they also share their strong will to follow their own way to the summit. But there is also a major discrepancy between these two ³creators² who grew up by totally different conditions.
Alberto lived for many year near Bologna in the superb mansion of his wealthy parents situated above a beautiful village and he already drove a Ferrari when he was 21.
Bode on his side was born in a very remote place situated near Franconia, in New Hampshire, not far from Sugar Hill where one of America's first rope tows was built for skier in the 1930's! He was a ³free² child for years in Easton where his parents erected a cabin without running water, electricity or central heating. It's also there that Bode was born in October 1977 - Mother Jo didn't want to go to the hospital!
In winter, Bode Miller spent his entire days on skis, mostly at nearby Cannon Mountain and he was home-schooled until third grade by his mother. His parents separated when he was 6 but he had a great time with his younger brother Chelone (his whole name is Nathaniel Kinsman Ever Chelone Skan Miller) and his two older sisters Kyla and Wren ( ³short-cut² for Genesis Wren Bungo Windrushing Turtleheart Miller). Apparently free-spirited families (also called hippies) as the Streets and the Millers produce great athletes as Picabo and Bode!
When he was older, Bode moved to Maine's Carrabassett Valley Academy where he could study and ski - and compete. He lived far from the school and in the winter, he mostly used a snowmobile to get there, never afraid of speed and risks while riding his engine. He continued to live at the edges while racing, enraging his coaches with his unorthodox technique and his no-prisoner-of-war tactic between the gates.
He didn't end many races - but when he could, he did fine as at Sugarloaf when he came in 3rd at the 1996 US Nationals. US downhill veteran Chad Fleischer called him ³Modern Day Savage² when Miller first made the team!
His great skills help him to overcome hard times and criticisms of the US coaches who sometimes doubted about his mental possibilities and his vision of the sport. But this lover or Raggae and Rap music is certainly as smart as stubborn and his passion for the sport made him a champion.
Together with his friend Eric Schlopy, with whom he shares a flat near Innsbruck during the winter season, and other talented colleagues as Marco Sullivan or Tom Rothrock, Bode Miller forms a powerful squadron which aims to have fun on the World Cup tour in coming seasons!

Patrick Lang