Skiing Heritage News

BORMIO, Italy (Feb. 5) - Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) waited through an eight-minute delay when a racer went into the safety nets Saturday and then stormed down Bormio's Stelvio run to lead an historic 1-2 finish with Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) in men's downhill at the 2005 World Alpine Ski Championships.

Bode at Bormio

Bode on course (Jonathan Selkowitz photo)

Miller, who won the super G to open Worlds on Jan. 29, collected his second gold medal of the Championships - and the fifth Worlds medal (four of them gold) of his glittering career - in 1:56.22. Rahlves, the 2001 super G world champion, was timed in 1:56.66 and the bronze medal went to Austrian Michael Walchhofer (1:57.09), the defending DH champion. JJ Johnson (Park City, UT), the only other American in the race, was 21st in the field of 42.

The delay came when No. 2 racer Alexandr Horoshilov of Russia skidded into the safety netting on a left hand turn. It took a brief while to fish him out and he got back on his feet. All the while, Miller - who was running third - calmly stood in the start, resting on his ski poles, checking his boots and bindings, and returning to lean calmly over his poles, visualizing his run.

Delays didn't rattle Bode's focus

"The delay really didn't bother me too much. I normally don't focus until 30 seconds before my start. But the [start] tent was so hot from the sun beating down on it, my goggles started to fog," Miller said. However, the fogging was no problem once he headed on course.

"The course was a little different than in training. Normally, I didn't start this early [No. 3], and it was a lot bumpier. It's also a time when the light is changing on course. I was happier with the way I skied" than Thursday when he lost a ski just 15 seconds into the downhill run opening his attempt to defend his title in combined.

As he stood in the finish area, Miller said he had made a couple of mistakes on the run and didn't think his time would stand up against the challenge from the other top skiers. But they couldn't match his skiing, which came 48 hours after he skied 65 seconds on his right leg after losing his left ski in the combined DH.

With just the barest of smiles, Miller told a press conference he felt he did especially well in his lefthand turns because his right leg "was well trained" from the crowd-pleasing performance Thursday morning.

"When I come to these big championships," Miller said, "and I know I'm going to be going 100 percent, I expect to make mistakes and I expect to make bobbles, and I factor that into how I decide I'm gonna ski my best. Today, it really went the way I would've thought; it's just that I was surprised other guys didn't ski faster...

"I knew running early the visibility was going to be tough, I was going to get tired. I knew I was going to probably be slow on the bottom of the course where I was really tired and couldn't keep the skis clean. I was just hoping by that point I'd have a big enough lead and it worked out exactly as I thought."

Weary gold medalist at the finish

Miller said he was exhausted at the end of his run. "The last three turns I had nothing left. I was just balancing sideways and I didn't have anything left in my legs at all, and I was just trying to struggle through to the finish and hope I didn't lost too much time...

"Whether that was the perfect run or not, that was my best effort."

His victory gave the Carrabassett Valley Academy graduate a USA-record five World Championships medals (breaking the mark of four held jointly with Tamara McKinney) to go with two Olympic medals.

He saluted Rahlves as "an inspirational skier" and said if he had to pick two skiers in any speed race, he'd select himself and Rahlves. "He does a lot on heart and grit... You know he's going to put a hard, aggressive win," Miller said.

Rahlves, starting 21st, said he made a mistake at the top of the course, which carried down the 3.2K run.

Rahlves: "I was ready..."

"I was definitely ready to put one down today. It was a lot bumpier today, so you know you're gonna make some mistakes," he said.

"I made a mistake at the top that really hurt coming into the big side-hill traverse and that really affected me all the way down," he explained.

"The best feeling I had today was at the bottom. I felt like I was on top of my skis and letting it run," he said. "Downhill, for me, is the ultimate - the ultimate risk, the ultimate test ...You have to be willing to put yourself on the line...

"I'd much rather crash or go out going for the win than just make it to the finish."

McBride: "A lot came together"

Downhill and super G Head Coach John McBride, who monitored the race from the SG turns below the top, smiled as he shook his head. "Pretty amazing...just unbelievable. You always know it's possible that those two guys can be 1-2, if they put everything together," he said.

"A lot of things came together. Bode and 'D' did a great job.

"We all have our little parts to contribute but they still have to do it. And let's not forget JJ having a pretty good day, too. That young man's been stepping up this season."

The 1-2 performance was a first for U.S. skiers in a World Championships. Phil and Steve Mahre went gold-silver in slalom at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, but that was the first time the Olympics did not double as the World Championships. In 1985 - coincidentally, also in Bormio and Santa Caterina, Diann Roffe won the women's GS with Eva Twardokens as bronze medalist and at the 1996 Worlds in Sierra Nevada, Spain, Picabo Street won the downhill with Hilary Lindh as bronze medalist. And, of course, Miller and Erik Schlopy (Park City, UT) were first and third in GS at the 2003 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The women run their downhill Sunday in Santa Caterina and everyone gets a day off Monday before the schedule turns to the tech events Tuesday with women's giant slalom.

2005 WORLD ALPINE SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS
Bormio, ITA - Feb. 5, 2005
Men's Downhill
1. Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H., 1:56.22
2. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 1:56.66
3. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 1:57.09
4. Fritz Strobl, Austria, 1:57.17
5. Bruno Kernen, Switzerland, 1:57.25
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21. JJ Johnson, Park City, Utah, 1:58.10

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