Bode Miller clinches Overall World Cup title as Goergl wins again.

Parpan/Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 12th - 2005. Bode Miller became the third American skier after Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983 to clinch the FIS Overall World Cup title after today's dramatic giant slalom won by Austria's promising newcomer Stephan Goergl. In coming in 2nd, 28/100 of a second behind him, Miller increased his lead in the Overall standings, making it impossible to Benjamin Raich to pass him in Sunday's slalom.

Yet Raich, 3rd in that last giant slalom, also enjoyed a nice success in that race in clinching the GS World Cup title with an advance of three points on Miller. Hermann Maier, 4th, would have prevented him to clinch his third speciality World Cup title since 2001 if he would have been 5/100 of second faster! Thomas Grandi, who suffered flu since the beginning of the week, came in 11th yet, he finished 3rd in the GS standings.

After ending twice 4th and once 2nd in the Overall standings in the past three years, Bode Miller finally confirmed his status as the world's best all-round skier on Saturday, wrapping up the Overall title a day before the final slalom in reaching his third consecutive podium!

The 27-year-old American, who has led the sport's standings for the entire season as Karl Schranz in 1969 and Ingemar Stenmark in 1978, finally clinched the most prestigious and significant trophy of his career to date with another aggressive run down the treacherous “Silvano Beltrametti” course in Parpan/ Lenzerheide.

Fighting for another specialty title, Miller pushed caution aside in trademark fashion yet failed to win the race taken by the talented Goergl, already a surprising winner in Beaver Creek's Super-G four months ago.
The 26 year-old-Austrian dominated his rivals in both runs, explaining afterwards that he was inspired by Miller's relaxed attitude and his drive

2nd win for Goergl

“It was one of my goals this season to win a giant slalom because it's such a difficult event,” said Goergl, son of Germany's 1964 Olympic downhill bronze medallist Traudl Haecher. In January 2001, he finished a promising 27th in his first World Cup race, a Super-G in Garmisch Partenkirchen. This year, he was 5th in a giant slalom in Beaver Creek yet he didn't qualify in two occasions, in Flachau and Adelboden!

“To win the final giant slalom of the season gives me even more motivation to become a better all-round skier. I'm proud of my accomplishments this winter and to finish the Overall standings among the top-15 after having scored more than 400 points. This should help me to compete in more downhill races in the coming years.”

During the press conference, Goergl also acknowledged that he was proud to have finished in front of the three best GS skiers of the season, and that Bode Miller has become on of his role models this winter. “I watched him a lot and I appreciated his coolness and his determination to always give his best,” Stephan said. “This is what I tried to do today after finding myself in the lead in the first run. “I took again all risks in the second leg and it paid off. It was really an exciting race.”

Austria's Benjamin Raich, Miller's last remaining rival for the Overall crown, was briefly in front after his second run but was symbolically beaten by Miller and then by Goergl to eventually finish third.

Although not enough to stop Miller's overall triumph, Raich's podium place did ensure that the Austrian finished on top in the giant slalom standings, winning the discipline title by just three points over Miller.

3rd Cup for Benni

“I'm really pleased to get the giant slalom cup too, it's a great way to end this wonderful season,” insisted Raich. “I really didn't have anything to lose today as I was already behind after the first run. My second run was fantastic though so I'm really proud of that. I'm happy with how I've done this year in the Overall and also with my improvements in the speed events. I'm a very patient person so I intend to come back fighting for the Overall title next season. The experience I gained this winter will be very helpful in the next seasons.”

Bode Miller is only the second American man to win the overall title following Phil Mahre who won three consecutive titles between 1981 and 1983 before becoming slalom Olympic Champion in 1984, his last year on the tour.
Bode's impressive season has also included two World Championship gold medals in downhill and Super-G at Bormio, as well as the World Cup title in Super-G which he clinched with a final race victory on Friday.

Bode is tired

In December the skier from Franconia became only the second man, after Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli, to win across all four World Cup disciplines in a single season, achieving the feat in a record 16 days. Mid December, he had a build up a lead of more than 400 points on his closest rivals - which eventually shrunk to 29 points prior the speed events in Kvitfjell after a series of DNF's and DQ's in the technical specialties. This winter his best event was Super-G - he finished all his races among the top-5, what eventually allowed him to clinch the Crystal Cup in that specialty.

The champion from New England was delighted to have reached his supreme goal the way he wanted - attacking and going all out for it. “My first thought after crossing the finish line in the second run was that I'll not win the GS Cup because my advance on Raich was too small and I believed that Goergl was capable to beat both of us,” the American said afterwards.
“My main goal this morning was to successfully defend the GS title I won last year. I felt comfortable about the Overall title. Of course I'm glad to have secured it and to have proved that I was the best skier in the world over the entire season,” added Bode who is the only skier having competed in all races since 2002.

“I'm proud to have won it on my own way, trying to win each race in which I competed and winning in all disciplines. But I also feel tired now, my legs are sore. It has been a long season in which skiing has been the easiest part. The rest was often more difficult to handle, especially the stardom, the media, the general attention. I'm looking forward for a nice break, but my schedule is quite busy in the coming weeks.”

Miller, who is supposed to attend one of the next Jay Leno's shows in L.A., will also compete at the US National in Mammoth Mountain, California at the end of the month.

In Sunday's last slalom, he will try once more to achieve two strong runs and to win again in that event.

Patrick Lang