Bode Miller just won his first gold medal, and when he did, the crowd erupted. Now Miller has five Olympic medals, and one in each color.
Miller trailed the dh portion of the super combined by .74 seconds off leader Aksel Svindal, and was positioned seventh. Several threats were ahead of him including Ivica Kostelic and Silvan Zubriggen.
Your stomach always sinks when Miller get in the gate, because you never know what’s going to happen. Today was no different. With time to make up it was easy to predict that Miller would be attacking the slalom. He smoked the top section of the course and ended the slalom in the lead. Miller’s slalom was third fastest – teammate Ted Ligety won the run.
The flower ceremony just took place and I have never see so many smiles from Miller. After getting bronze in the downhill he said he was approaching these Olympic differently. He was trying to feed off the energy and excitement and get back to the purity of skiing. Since then he’s won two more medals.
If there’s ever been a time that you could say it’s “Miller time” – it’s now.
Headed to the press conference.
Posts Tagged ‘Bode Miller’
Miller takes gold in super combined
Sunday, February 21st, 2010Some quotes from Miller
Monday, February 15th, 2010The downhill is still underway, and Bode Miller is in bronze medal position. He ran early and charged hard. Really no mistakes to speak of. The margin separating the top 3 are miniscule. Here are some of the things he’s had to say so far:
On his run:
“I was really nervous this morning. Once I got going, I felt really, really solid.”
“It was hard for me to push without making mistakes. I skied really well at the top but I was pushing too hard.”
On his chances of winning a medal:
“I might hold on for a medal. I might not.”
“If I could do it again, I could hold those guys. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
It’s Miller time, again
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Just when you thought Bode Miller may have lapsed into the upcoming Olympics without a World Cup win, he did it. Amazing.
Granted, it was at Wengen, on one of Miller’s favorite downhill tracks – the famed Lauberhorn. Remember? It’s where he crashed off the final jump and still won in 2007? Watch that here. In fact, he won the downhill there in 2008 and was second on the track in 2009.
But today’s race was a super combined, which consists of one run of downhill and one run of slalom. Miller finished 13th in a slalom at Adelboden last week, so in hindsight we could have seen it coming. You know what they say about hindsight vision!
“I feel like I have a setup now in all four events where I can be a threat to win and be on the podium,” Miller said. “It’s been a long time since I really felt like that.”
The win is Miller’s first since March 2008 (Kvitfjell, Norway) and it proves he’s still a constant threat, especially heading into Vancouver.
“It was a great day for me just that in I made a breakthrough in my equipment,” Miller said. “It’s been a frustrating season a little bit because we haven’t had very consistent conditions, and I was so far behind at the beginning of the year with no testing all summer. I didn’t even ski until September, so we’ve been kind of plugging away and trying to figure out all the different things in all four events, and today was the first day that I had a downhill setup that I really felt that I could win on.”
Miller charges through the gates during the slalom portion of Wengen's super combined.
You can watch the race tomorrow on-demand tomorrow at Universal Sports.
Listen to Miller talk about the downhill portion of the race. Click here.
And he talks about the win here. Click here.
Can we talk about how much he’s offering to the press? It’s great. This is Miller on a mission. I’m gonna say we’re in for a show come Vancouver time.
Vermonters rack up results
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Four Vancouver-bound Vermonters had exciting results over the weekend of competitions, and one guy from New Hampshire put to rest a nasty habit of DNFing in slalom.
Andy Newell (Shaftsbury) wrapped up his time on the Tour de Ski, held in Prague Monday, qualifying for finals for the second time this year and finishing sixth in the freestyle sprint in the Czech Republic. With the finish, Newell boosted himself to third in the World Cup sprint standings.
The cross country team now heads to Otepaa in Estonia for women’s 10K and men’s 15K classic races, as well as a classic sprint.
Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield) was 19th and 21st in a World Cup super g and downhill this weekend in Haus, Austria, making her bid for the 2010 Games a bit brighter. She’ll have some work to do in the upcoming races in Cortina, Italy as this year, the women’s speed team is quite deep. She, Leanne Smith (Conway, N.H.) and Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, Mont.) are all on the bubble duking it out for starting rights.
Kelly Clark (Mount Snow) clinched her third Olympic berth winning the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Mammoth Mountain, Calif. In the women’s pipe Clark’s consistency and overall riding quality were undeniable as she stomped a clean frontside air, backside 5, frontside 9, backside air, frontside 7, cab 7 for the win.
The 2002 gold medalist was reeling after her victory lap.
“It’s a pretty overwhelming thing and I would just say I feel privileged right now to be 26 years old and heading to my third Olympics. It’s a really incredible thing,” Clark said.
Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mt.), Vermont’s 2006 silver medalist in snowboardcross, won a World Cup event in Bad Gastein, Austria. The win moves her closer to mathematically clinching an Olympic start – even though she’ll very likely be named to the team anyway.
“I’m stoked. I definitely needed that. I’ve been in kind of a little slump lately, and this felt great,” Jacobellis said. “It takes off a lot of the pressure that this has happened. It supports my confidence and helps me go into the next one.”
She’ll have another chance Friday in Switzerland, and another chance Friday with a final event in Canada Jan. 21 before the team is named Jan. 25.
Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) led the U.S. Team in slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland this weekend in 13th place. Miller has had spotty success in the event, so the finish was a sign of hope. IN the previous day’s race – a giant slalom – Miller spun out after hooking his shoulder on a gate. You can watch his slalom run here.
