Great ski racers have to live on the edge, but few of them can topple over that edge and come back again.
Bode Miller, negotiating a turn in the downhill portion of the alpine combined event Wednesday morning, rolled completely onto his left hip yet somehow powered his way back upright. When he arrived at the finish line, he patted his chest in relief. His instinctive recovery enabled him to compete in the two afternoon slalom runs, held on the same day as the downhill portion for the first time in Olympic history.
Miller, in 15th place after the downhill, moved up to fifth but didn’t make up any time in the initial run of the slalom, his specialty. Miscalculations left 2.44 seconds between him and the leader, Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.
During a break at Snowbasin Ski Area, Miller explained his strategy for the final race.
“Full gas,” he said.
A fueled-up Miller either can mean victory or inferno, and that kind of margin usually is unassailable.
But Miller is an unusual athlete. His second slalom run was as smooth and serpentine as a ribbon in the wind–not to mention fastest in the field. Miller took 2.16 seconds off Aamodt’s lead for a second-place finish, .28 seconds behind. Austria’s Benjamin Raich won the bronze.
Miller’s silver was the first U.S. Olympic medal in the combined event and the first U.S. mens’ alpine podium finish since 1994.
U.S. Ski Association President Bill Marolt likened Miller’s late charge to “scoring six touchdowns in the fourth quarter.”
“He’s willing to risk it all every time and take what the result is,” Marolt said. “They said the same thing about Jean-Claude Killy, that he was too wild and would go off the course all the time. Once those guys figure out how to get to the finish, they’re awesome.”
Aamodt’s win in 3:17.56 came 10 years after his first and only other Olympic gold, in the super-giant slalom. At 30, the Norwegian is considered one of the great champions of the sport with 16 alpine medals in the Olympics and world championships.
He lavished praise on Miller.
“He’s revolutionizing the way of skiing, as I see it,” Aamodt said. “No one’s ever skied that fast in giant slalom and slalom. When he puts it together, he’s in a class of his own.”
Aamodt also called the 24-year-old Miller “charismatic” and said he has the potential to equal or surpass Italian slalom supernova Alberto Tomba.
“He does it with a lot of feeling,” Aamodt said. “In his mind he has no limits. When you speak to him he’s so relaxed. He doesn’t think about consequences. I think way too much about consequences. I could learn from him.”
Miller was plain-spoken about his near catastrophe.
“Sometimes competing well means crashing for me,” he said. “It was a crash. My skis weren’t touching the ground.”
Rising from those ashes was “above and beyond what I can normally do, because I felt if I didn’t, I’d probably die,” Miller said. “I do [close calls] more often than most people but they take years off my life.”
Miller said he thought his medal chances had evaporated but slid into the start gate with the calm and confidence that have helped him win four World Cup events this season after years of wiping out and resisting advice to change his style.
“I always feel good when I’m about to start a slalom run,” he said. “It’s the equivalent, for me, to looking at a great golf course if you’re a golfer, or looking at a playground if you’re a kid.”
Others who watched back in northern New Hampshire remembered the little boy who blazed down trails like a lit fuse and declared he would be in the Olympics someday.
“I’m just so happy for him,” said his mother, Jo Miller. “It’s such a hard thing to do the combined first.”
Jo Miller, who will come to Utah next week to see her son compete in the giant slalom and slalom, watched his downhill run on TV with friends after talking with him on the phone.
“I’m glad I had talked to him beforehand,” she said. “I was prepared.”
Jay Hoeschler of La Crosse, Wis., whose daughter, Lizzie, is Miller’s girlfriend, said he was emotional in the stands as he watched Miller finish.
“We were all so nervous and so hopeful that he would ski his potential,” Hoeschler said. “When he’s on, his only competition is himself. People will study that run. It’ll be a case study of how to ski slalom.”
