Since his falling out with the US Ski Team, Bode Miller is all about carving up the slopes, not carving turkey with his fellow American skiers on Thanksgiving.
Miller, who won the World Cup overall title last season, wrote in his Internet blog that he planned to celebrate Thursday’s US holiday quietly.
“I’m not doing anything special for Thanksgiving since I won’t be home,” Miller said of one of the biggest holidays on the US calendar. “They do a group dinner here. I might go to it but the food isn’t that great. When you’re not at home it doesn’t really matter.”
PHOTO: EPA
Starting from the eighth spot Thursday, Miller registered the fastest downhill training time for the second day in a row.
The runner-up in World Cup downhill standings last year, clocked a time of one minute, 45.37 seconds in much cooler conditions than those during Wednesday’s training run.
He could have had a faster time but stood up before hitting the finish line of the 3,025m Canadian course. Miller declined to speak on Thursday, walking briskly by reporters who had assembled in the finish area.
Miller decided recently to ski as an independent after disagreeing over rules with US Ski Team officials. He travels in a motorhome, hires his own coaches and trains by himself, but his World Cup points go toward the US team standings. The men were set to return to the slopes yesterday for a final training before this weekend’s season opening speed events.
Austrian Klaus Kroell was just two-hundredths of a second behind Miller while last year’s World Cup overall downhill champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland was third in 1:45.45.
“It is always special the first time skiing downhill after a long summer without skiing,” Cuche said.
Kroell, wearing bib No. 10, is looking for his first downhill victory on the World Cup circuit.
The cold didn’t slow down Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway who is coming back from a terrible crash in Beaver Creek last year. Svindal, the 2006-2007 overall champion, finished in fifth with a time of 1:45.92.
“It is nice to be back skiing downhill,” Svindal said. “The training runs are a good way to ease yourself into it.”
It was a strong day for the Swiss as they placed four skiers in the top 11. Cornel Zueger came from the back of the pack to finish 10th in 1:46.48.
The men will race in a downhill today and a super-G tomorrow.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS