by
Patrick Lang
Beaver Creek, USA, Dec.4th -2004.
Twenty years after Billy Johnson became
the first man from the US Ski Team
to win a World Cup downhill in Wengen,
Switzerland, a month before his Olympic
triumph in Sarajevo, two US champions
captured the first two spots in one
of the most demanding downhill competition
on the World Cup tour - the Birds
of Prey race in Beaver Creek. Thanks
to another aggressive yet controlled
run down that treacherous course,
Bode Miller celebrated his fourth
victory in five races, beating by
14/100 of a second his friend Daron
Rahlves, a winner here a year ago,
while Austria's World Champion Michael
Walchhofer was again 3rd.
Bode Miller's incredible winning streak
impressed and enchanted most of the
five thousand spectators who rooted
for him at the finish line. Among
them, Austria's legendary Franz Klammer,
the mighty Olympic champion from 1976.
Klammer, who celebrated his 51st birthday
on the same day, had only appreciative
words for the performances of the
27-year-old athlete from New Hampshire
who is since last week one of only
five skiers having won races in all
five alpine specialties actually raced
on the World Cup tour.
Klammer was impressed
“As most of us, I believed in
the potential of Bode to do well one
day in the downhill, but I didn't
expect him to dominate the way he
does now,” said the quadruple
downhill World Cup champion who won
25 speed events in his career from
1973 to 1984. In his best years, Klammer
won ten consecutive downhill races
over two seasons. A true hero in the
world of skiing, he is mostly remembered
for his reckless style and his unique
ability to always ski at his limits.
“I like the way he pushes his
skis forward, he is aggressive yet
also very calm and precise,”
added Klammer, a ski friend of the
Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“It's quite fantastic that Bode
can excel in all events since there
are so many great specialists nowadays.
I'm very curious to see how he will
handle the slalom on Sunday. If he
wins it too, he would achieve one
of the greatest exploits in the history
of this sport.”
Miller, a great sports star in the
alpine countries, is not making headlines
in the US media yet. None of the recent
US races have been broadcasted life
in the US. None of the main US sports
websites carry any news on him on
their front page despite the fact
that Bode's achievements support the
comparison with a golf or a tennis
Grand Slam. To win in all skiing disciplines
is certainly the greatest performances
in that sport. Miller is in fact very
proud to be part of that exclusive
elite now.
Miller in great company
Only very few racers were able to
crush their rivals the way Bode did
since the season start in Soelden,
conquering five consecutive podiums
in three events. One of them is Hermann
Maier, almost out of reach from 1998
to 2001.
Also very brilliant in his best years
was Austrian-born Marc Girardelli,
a five-time Overall World Cup champion
from Luxembourg, who won eleven technical
races in 1985. In 1989, he became
the only skier to triumph in all five
events during the same season.
Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark holds the
record of 86 World Cup wins from 1974
to 1989 - but only in slalom and giant
slalom. In 1978, he dominated the
first six technical races and was
already assured to clinch the Overall
World Cup Trophy in the middle of
the winter. This could also happen
his season with Miller, who also seems
able to break Maier's impressive record
of 2000 points scored in one winter
- during his 1999/2000 season.
But the greatest of all ski champions
remains France's Jean Claude Killy,
the triple Olympic Champion from Grenoble
and a two-time winner of the Overall
World Cup. In 1967, Killy won 12 out
of 17 World Cup races in downhill,
slalom and giant slalom - Super-G
didn't exist in those days.
In January, he won within three weeks
three downhills, two slaloms and one
giant slalom. In March he won eight
out of nine races, including three
races in three disciplines in three
days - in Franconia, the home town
of Miller!
An aggressive and instinctive
skier
Like the American, the skier from
Val d'Isère needed much time
to find his best rhythm. A very aggressive
and instinctive skier, Killy crashed
more than once before capturing his
first major race, a Kandahar giant
slalom raced in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
in February 1964, a week after finishing
a disappointed 5th in that specialty
at the Innsbruck Olympics.
In the following two years, he became
one of the best slalom specialists
before winning his first downhill
in August 1966, during the FIS World
Championships organized in Portillo,
Chile. Nobody could seriously challenge
him in the two following seasons marked
by his Olympics triumphs and his seventeen
World Cup wins.
The way Miller described his winning
run recalls some of the great runs
of Klammer and Killy. “I was
doing things with instinct and reaction,
it was a phenomenal feeling,”
he said after the race. “I won't
forget this race. I'm very proud of
it. I never attacked so much in downhill
without facing any difficult situation.
I had a huge smile over my face while
flying over the last jump. I definitely
had the feeling it was a damn good
run - it's never perfect, but my effort
was perfect,” he added after
nailing the technical, testing Bird
of Prey course for his sixteenth World
Cup victory. A year ago, he finished
none of his three races here!
Fortunately, Bode, who grew-up in
a man-made log house situated in the
woody mountains of New Hampshire,
keeps a cool head in the middle of
the euphoria which broke out this
week. “There are still so many
races to go that it doesn't make sense
to speak about the Overall World Cup
for the moment,” he said.
“Yet if I remain healthy and
motivated, it will be very difficult
to beat me this year because I have
reached a new level of confidence.
In fact, I was joking with Daron before
the race, telling him that if I keep
that pace, I may well take a break
in a while, go play golf in a warm
place, get back for the Worlds at
Bormio before collecting my Cups at
the Finals in Switzerland. Of course
it will not happen because I'm having
so much fun racing and challenging
myself all the time.”
Great interest in Austria
Miller's performances create great
interest also in Austria even if he
is the main rival of the Austrian
leaders. Yet some critics don't understand
why one of Austria's leading ski manufacturers,
Atomic, provided efficient equipment
which obviously helps him to dominate
the champions from the “Empire”,
the nick-name of the Austrian Ski
Team given by the US Press.
Some even believe that Bode is using
the best skis of Stephan Eberharter
who retired last fall. “It's
not the case, but his serviceman is
doing a great job with my new skis,”
explained the beaming American with
a grin. “But people there should
not forget that it belongs to a Finish
group based in Helsinki!”
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