Second Bodes Well for Miller

It may not have been as farfetched crazy as the Jamaican bobsled team winning an Olympic medal, or the Angels winning the World Series, but the sight of a male slalom skier from the United States standing on a World Cup podium Monday was strange.

One day after Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic made history by coming from the 64th start position to win, Bode Miller of the U.S. finished second wearing the No. 54 bib in a World Cup slalom at Aspen Mountain.

Austria’s Mario Matt snatched the top spot from Miller with his second run and won in a two-race time of 1 minute 39.08 seconds, just ahead of Miller’s 1:39.69.

Jean-Pierre Vidal of France finished third at 1:40.06.

“I kept telling people one of these days we were going to have a slalom team,” U.S. men’s slalom and giant slalom Coach Jesse Hunt joked after Miller’s finish. “It seems like we’re getting there.”

Let’s just say it has been a long trip.

Miller’s was the best World Cup slalom finish since Felix McGrath finished second to Alberto Tomba on March 20, 1988, in Are, Sweden. The U.S. men have not finished first in a slalom since Steve Mahre won in 1983.

Miller’s effort was the kind of result the U.S. hopes to spin into some pre-Olympic momentum.

Sunday, the U.S. advanced three racers into a second run for the first time in more than a decade, but could produce no better than a No. 14 finish from Casey Puckett.

Monday, Miller and Tom Rothrock were the only Americans who qualified for a second run, with Rothrock going out after missing a gate.

That has been Miller’s big problem of late. He bombed out in two slaloms at a Nor-Am race in Loveland last week and missed a gate Sunday after taking the lead at the intermediate clocking.

Eyes rolled when Miller boasted afterward he was one of the fastest skiers in the field, but he backed it up Monday.

Did Miller draw back-of-the-pack inspiration from Kostelic’s historic victory a day before?

“I’m not sure skiers inspire each other in that way,” Miller said, “but, yeah, it was tough to see that he came behind me yesterday and won when I felt I had a good chance to win and ended up with nothing.

“It made me really want to make it stick today.”

Miller was in 16th place after his first run. In the slalom format, the top 30 racers in the first run make the second run in reverse order, with the fastest skiers going last.

Miller’s second-run time of 50.93 was the quickest in the field, but he had to wait as racers with faster first-run times took their turns.

“I figured I’d be top five,” he said.

The first-run leaders, Heinz Schilchegger and Mario Matt of Austria, had more than a second advantage on Miller.

As Miller watched from below, 13 racers took their shots but could not best his time. He clinched at least third when Vidal of France could not surpass him.

Then, only two Austrians stood between Miller and victory.

Matt, skiing second to last, did not have a memorable run but was able to use his considerable first-run cushion and edge Miller by 0.61 of a second. Miller secured second when Schilchegger, skiing last, had a poor second-run time of 52:81 and finished sixth.

Miller’s breakthrough came at a critical time because there has been tension between the skier and his coaches on race tactics.

Miller, 24, from Franconia, N.H., has his own ideas on winning. He is a gifted skier, but his coaches feel he has been too aggressive at times.

That drive to win has produced critical mistakes.

After Sunday’s second-run blowout, Hunt and Miller spoke again about tactics.

Hunt basically told Miller he couldn’t win a race unless he finished one.

Miller said his Sunday flub was dumb luck; Hunt insisted Miller made a tactical error.

Miller appears to have heeded his coach’s advice.

“For me, he’s just skiing the proper tactics,” Hunt said. “He needs to learn to do that more often.... He’s on the podium, so he knows what’s working and what’s not.”

Miller resents the “My Way” tag some have placed on him.

“It’s sort of a cliche more than anything else, that term that’s put on me,” Miller said. “I’m not trying to prove anyone wrong or prove myself right, I’m just trying to get good World Cup results. I’m trying to win. If I can do it my way and win, that’s great, if I can do it somebody else’s way, just as good.”