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Americans sweep men's giant slalom

Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, bends a gate on his way to winning the World Cup giant slalom event in Beaver Creek, Colorado, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Off to a much slower start than a year ago, defending overall World Cup champion Bode Miller picked up his first victory of the season on Saturday, leading a 1-2-4 US finish in a giant slalom.

Miller finished with a total time of 2 minutes, 34.56 seconds.

"I was fully, fully aware of being on the edge the whole time," Miller said. "I was definitely taking a risk. Those are the kind of runs that are fun for me."

Daron Rahlves, who beat Miller in a 1-2 US downhill Friday, wound up in second place in the giant slalom, 0.49 seconds back.

The results pushed the teammates and training partners to the top of the World Cup overall standings, with Rahlves at No. 1, and Miller at No. 2.

"Today showed what we have in ourselves. Hopefully it does send a good message to everybody else and gets them thinking a bit more," Rahlves said. "And that just gives us more power as a team."

Kalle Palander of Finland -- tied with Miller after the first run -- finished third, 1.23 seconds off the pace. Erik Schlopy of the US was fourth, just another 0.01 behind, despite skiing with his left hand taped after smashing it into a gate during the opening run.

Lindsey Kildow of the US wears the leader's jersey after her first place finish in the World Cup downhill race at Lake Louise, Alberta, on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Miller, the last to go in the second run, slid into the finish area on his backside, wearing a big grin. He got up, acknowledged the loud crowd, then embraced Rahlves.

Overnight snow left about 23cm on the course, and more snow during the race brought it to about 30cm.

"Everybody needed to fight today," Palander said. "It was tough visibility, and the snow was so strange -- sometimes really clean turns or icy turns, sometimes really small ice balls."

Schlopy had the fastest first split time in the first run, but he lost nearly a full second to Miller over the final interval, skiing with one pole for the last 20 gates.

"It blew my hand back, blew the pole right out of my hand. It was painful. I yelled out when it happened," Schlopy said. "But then I just said, `I'm going to go for it the rest of the way.'"

Fifteen of the 70 starters failed to finish the first run, including Benjamin Raich of Austria -- the 2004-2005 World Cup giant slalom champion and silver medalist at the World Championships.

Lindsey Kildow completed a US Alpine sweep, winning a women's World Cup downhill victory in the swirling winds and frigid temperatures of the Canadian Rockies.

While the US men dominated in Colorado, Kildow edged Sylviane Berthod of Switzerland by three-hundredths of a second for her second career World Cup win.

The 21-year-old American triumphed on the same Lake Louise hill where she won her first World Cup race a year ago. As happened in 2004, Kildow and US teammate Bode Miller won the same day. Miller won the giant slalom at Beaver Creek on Saturday.

"Today was really special for me," Kildow said. "I've only won once before, and that was here. To do it again was awesome."

Fighting the wind and whiffs of blowing light snow, Kildow won in 1 minute, 49.51 seconds. Berthod was second in 1:49.54. Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, second in Friday's downhill, was third Saturday in 1:49.63.

Kildow finished fifth in Friday's race. Her victory at Lake Louise a year ago was the start of a breakout season, where she finished among the top three seven times.

She is the first US woman to earn multiple World Cup downhill titles since her idol and friend Picabo Street won the final three of her nine career races in 1996.

"She kind of put me under her wing when I was on the team with her," Kildow said. "I owe a lot to her. I met her when I was nine years old, and she gave me the motivation and kind of the goal to be in the Olympics and win an Olympic gold medal."

Kildow moved with her family to Vail, Colorado, from St. Paul, Minnesota, in the early 1990s to concentrate on training. She lives in Park City, Utah, with her boyfriend, former Olympic skier Thomas Vonn.

"This summer I trained a lot better than I did last year," she said. "I think I've improved a lot in my technique and in my general skills of skiing. Hopefully this year, I'll be more consistent. It's also a learning experience."
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