Bode Miller was back on the World Cup podium on Friday for the first time since breaking away from the US Ski Team.
Miller finished second in the Super-G, missing out on defending his title here by a mere 0.02 seconds to Didier Cuche of Switzerland. Miller's previous best finish in 11 races this season was fourth in a super-combi race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, last month.
"Everything has been going well but the results haven't really been there and that's always a little tough when you're putting in all the work and doing everything right," Miller said. "At the end of the day it's up to me to execute 100 percent and I didn't execute that well today and got a result. If I can start to clean up mistakes we're going to be in good shape."
PHOTO: AFP
Miller, who left the US team ahead of this season to train and race on his own, was the 21st skier down the course. He increased his lead on Marco Buechel from the first to second check points, then lost precious splits of a second in the middle section, hitting several gates that caused his arms to ricochet into the air.
"I was really attacking and made a few errors," Miller said. "But I'm perfectly satisfied with the way I skied."
Cuche skied next and was significantly behind Miller through the first two check points. The Swiss skier was perfect on the lower section and popped one of his skis off his foot and up into the air with delight upon seeing his name on top of the leader board.
"I made a little mistake on the upper part of the course and I wasn't too happy," Cuche said. "I also had some trouble landing a jump near the end and only barely made the next gate. But you need some luck to win, especially by just a couple hundredths."
Cuche covered the 2.365km Saslong course in 1 minute, 36.62 seconds for his first victory of the season. Miller was 0.02 seconds behind and Buechel was third, 0.04 back, making for extremely close podium times on a clear day in the Italian Dolomites.
Benjamin Raich finished seventh and leads the overall standings with 441 points, followed by Cuche (373) and Daniel Albrecht (332), who fell but was not injured.
Miller jumped up from seventh to fourth overall with 274 points.
Cuche took over the lead in the Super-G standings from Raich, 184-161.
Miller has had to hire his own coaches and coordinate his own training and travel this season. Despite all the extra responsibilities, he said that was not the reason for his slow start.
"I don't think that's [why]," Miller said. "The skiing has been there. Mostly it's been execution. Fitness-wise I feel like I'm in better shape now than ever before."
Miller hired John McBride away from the US team to be his head coach and brought in former US coaches Forest Carey and Mike Kenney. Carey skied with Miller at the Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine and Kenney is his uncle.
Miller has labeled his breakaway squad "Team America."
"I have a group of coaches that I have a huge amount of respect for," Miller said. "They're really flexible and hard working and fun guys ... It's like an all-star team right now."
Miller still must wear a US team uniform and trades course reports with US coaches.
One of the main reasons Miller left the US team was because it did not allow him to sleep in the personal trailer he travels the circuit in.
Buechel, a one-man team from tiny Liechtenstein, has also started touring the circuit in his own motor home this season.
"The only two guys on the World Cup tour who have a motor home are on the podium," Miller said. "It's great. It's something that I feel strongly about. It helps a lot and [retired US skier] Daron [Rahlves] was a fan of it and now I think Marco's seeing the benefits."
Before the race, Buechel relaxed in his motor home, which was parked next to Miller's much larger vehicle right by the race course.
"After inspection, I went down to my camper, put the heat up, ate something and watched some TV while the dog was biting on his bone," Buechel said. "It was great."
Cuche has thought about getting one too.
"It would be nice to have my own place to stay and relax," Cuche said. "But if I do it, it would have to be a big one like Bode's."
■ SKIJUMP
AP,VILLACH, AUSTRIA
Thomas Morgenstern became the first ski jumper to post five consecutive World Cup victories at the start of a season on Friday.
The Olympic champion overtook Austria's Andreas Felder, who started the 1984 season with four victories, and Finland's Janne Ahonen, who also had four wins at the start of 2004.
With six titles each, Ahonen and Finland's Matti Hautamaki share the record for the most mid-season wins in a row, a record that Morgenstern can match and break at the upcoming event in Engelberg, Switzerland, on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23.
"This is incredible," Morgenstern said. "It's a great achievement and rewriting the history books means a lot to me, but winning the overall World Cup is still my biggest goal this season."
The 21-year-old Austrian won his latest World Cup meet with a 95m effort, 2m behind Andreas Kuttel of Switzerland, who had a 97m jump to lead after the opening run.
In the second leg, Kuttel lost balance and crashed while landing but stayed uninjured, posting only 86.5m which saw him finish 21st.
Morgenstern had another 95m effort to secure the victory with a total of 249.5 points.
Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria took second, six points behind, and Ahonen finished third.
Morgenstern leads the overall standings with the maximum score of 500 points, Schlierenzauer is second with 299, and Ahonen is third with 244.
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