Miller Wins Gold in the Super Combined
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/sports/olympics/22skiing.html
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WHISTLER, British Columbia — Bode Miller of the United States won the men’s super combined Sunday, his first Olympic gold medal in a career that has seen a surprising resurgence at these Games.
Miller was predicted by many to take home several medals from the Turin Games in 2006. There he finished no better than fifth in any of his races. He was almost an afterthought coming into these Games, but his victory made him the first American Alpine skier to win three medals in an Olympics. He won bronze in the downhill and silver in the super-G.
An Olympic gold medal, however, was the one prize missing from Miller’s impressive résumé. A two-time World Cup champion who has won more World Cup races than any other American men’s Alpine skier, Miller was in seventh place after the downhill portion of Sunday’s race, but erased that deficit with an aggressive slalom run. He finished with a combined time of 2 minutes 44.92 seconds, beating Ivica Kostelic of Croatia by 0.33 of a second. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland won bronze, another 0.17 back.
“To win my first Olympic gold medal, this could not have been more perfect,” Miller said. “The way I executed, the way I skied, is something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life. It feels amazing.”
The super combined is a one-day event combining the times of a downhill run in the morning and a run of slalom in the afternoon.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, already a two-time Alpine medalist at the Vancouver Olympics, led after the downhill but spun out with about 100 yards to go in the slalom. When the gold became his, Miller pumped his left fist in celebration of the fifth Olympic medal of his career.
Miller was conservative at the beginning of his slalom run, but got more aggressive toward the bottom of the hill. After he took the lead, he had to wait to see how the contenders behind him would fare. Kostelic could not catch him, Carlo Janka of Switzerland made a mistake and could not get onto the podium and his teammate Didier Defago, the men’s downhill winner, skied out.
“I’ve never had too many confidence issues in my skiing,” he said, “but to execute on a day like today is very meaningful.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/sports/olympics/22skiing.html
Miller was predicted by many to take home several medals from the Turin Games in 2006. There he finished no better than fifth in any of his races. He was almost an afterthought coming into these Games, but his victory made him the first American Alpine skier to win three medals in an Olympics. He won bronze in the downhill and silver in the super-G.
An Olympic gold medal, however, was the one prize missing from Miller’s impressive résumé. A two-time World Cup champion who has won more World Cup races than any other American men’s Alpine skier, Miller was in seventh place after the downhill portion of Sunday’s race, but erased that deficit with an aggressive slalom run. He finished with a combined time of 2 minutes 44.92 seconds, beating Ivica Kostelic of Croatia by 0.33 of a second. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland won bronze, another 0.17 back.
“To win my first Olympic gold medal, this could not have been more perfect,” Miller said. “The way I executed, the way I skied, is something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life. It feels amazing.”
The super combined is a one-day event combining the times of a downhill run in the morning and a run of slalom in the afternoon.
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, already a two-time Alpine medalist at the Vancouver Olympics, led after the downhill but spun out with about 100 yards to go in the slalom. When the gold became his, Miller pumped his left fist in celebration of the fifth Olympic medal of his career.
Miller was conservative at the beginning of his slalom run, but got more aggressive toward the bottom of the hill. After he took the lead, he had to wait to see how the contenders behind him would fare. Kostelic could not catch him, Carlo Janka of Switzerland made a mistake and could not get onto the podium and his teammate Didier Defago, the men’s downhill winner, skied out.
“I’ve never had too many confidence issues in my skiing,” he said, “but to execute on a day like today is very meaningful.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/sports/olympics/22skiing.html
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