Bode Miller’s oft-criticized style of skiing, an all-or-nothing approach, may leave him with nothing in the World Cup overall awards.
By failing to finish Thursday’s super-G in the World Cup Finals at Sestriere, Italy, U.S. star Miller fell to fourth in the standings. Thursday’s race winner, Hermann Maier of Austria, now leads Miller by 167 points with two races left, a giant slalom Saturday and a slalom Sunday.
“You don’t lose it at the end of the season,” Miller said. “You lose it through all the season. If I lose the overall, this super-G won’t be why.”
No one would argue that. In 36 races, Miller has failed to finish nine times. In two others, mistakes in the first run of a technical event, his specialties, kept him from qualifying for the second run. He has won four races–three giant slaloms, one slalom–and two alpine combined results.
“I want to race fast,” Miller told the Associated Press this week, referring to his hit-or-miss results. “I want to see how good I can get. It’s a bit arrogant not to race as hard as you can every time. You think you’re good enough to do whatever it is without giving everything.”
