Austria Is on a Powder Trip

Austria didn’t project a medal count for its Alpine squad in these Olympics or get its top ski racers on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Austria let its skis do the talking, and right now those skis won’t shut up.

America targeted eight medals in Alpine and, with three events left, has one.

Austria, in the meantime, registered its sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth Alpine medals Monday and put Team USA in its rear-view sneer.

The Austrian men won gold and bronze in giant slalom, and the women went gold-bronze in the super-giant slalom -- although everything the Austrians do these days starts with “super.”

The Austrian men went 1-3 in an exciting men’s giant slalom race that only tangentially involved the U.S.

Benjamin Raich, seconds away from a gold medal in the combined Feb. 14 before he skied out and handed a thank-you gold to America’s Ted Ligety, didn’t fall Monday and posted the fastest second run to win with a two-run time of 2 minutes 35 seconds.

“It was a very hard fight for me. I gave it everything I had,” Raich said. “And now it’s happened, I am Olympic champion.”

Joel Chenal of France was .07 of a second behind, claiming the silver, and Hermann Maier of Austria won a fourth Olympic medal and his first bronze.

Bode Miller was the top American finisher, tying for sixth. Daron Rahlves skied out in his final Olympic race, Ligety did not finish and Erik Schlopy ended up 13th, 2.56 seconds behind Raich’s time.

Phil McNichol, the U.S. men’s coach who thought he’d brought a juggernaut to Turin, said he needed time to “pull my stomach off the floor.”

He said, “It’s clearly a disappointment for the guys, it’s clearly a disappointment for me ... to bring a team of three, four guys with medal potential and fall on our face, and now I have to strengthen myself for the next six months of answering, ‘Why did you guys fail?’ ”

America’s failure is now cappuccino-shop talk.

Maier probably did not intend malice at the post-race news conference when he didn’t quite understand a question about America’s slogan of “Best in the World,” but his point was made.

“Who is best in the world?” Maier asked.

Exactly.

Raich was fifth after the morning run, which meant he skied fifth to last in the afternoon run. He blistered his second run and knocked Miller and Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, tied for the lead at the time, off the roost.

Raich then had to hold off teammate Maier, his biggest threat, and the three other fastest first-run racers.

Maier came up .16 short.

Swede Fredrik Nyberg and his 36-year-old legs couldn’t hold up and he finished fifth.

Chenal mustered a run to pass Maier but couldn’t overtake Raich.

Canadian Francois Bourque, the first run’s fastest racer, was the last man with a chance to beat Raich, but his second run 1:19.31 earned him the worst spot in the Olympics -- fourth.

It was time to add up Olympic medals other countries had won.

Raich has three in his career. Maier added his bronze to two gold and a silver. Now 33, he joked about competing in 2014 if Salzburg, Austria, is awarded the Winter Games.

Croatia has won three Alpine medals here. Sweden, Switzerland and France have won two each.

And America clings to Ligety’s gold.

Miller, the defending World Cup overall champion, is 0 for four events with Saturday’s slalom remaining -- if he even races.

McNichol said he wouldn’t start Miller, who is nursing a sore knee, unless he is fit.

“Our plan was to race Bode, but he needs to be ready to race,” McNichol said.

Miller bypassed the mixed-zone interview area Monday and sought refuge in his recreational vehicle.

He was later reached by the Associated Press and said in part that he was generally pleased with his effort.

“If things went well,” he said, “I could be sitting on four medals, maybe all of them gold.”

Miller finished fifth in downhill, .11 out of a medal, was disqualified in the combined for straddling a gate and did not finish the super-G after crashing into a gate.

He missed a bronze in giant slalom by .90

Miller’s career with the U.S team appears headed toward a tipping point, perhaps as early as this weekend.

“Bode will continue to wrestle his situation and answer for himself,” McNichol said. “He clearly did not perform to his magnitude.”

McNichol has been stunned with the performance of his men’s team, particularly in the giant slalom.

Schlopy is 33 but scored a giant slalom bronze only two years ago at the world championships.

Said McNichol: “I’m surprised Erik didn’t bring more to the giant slalom.”

Rahlves exits after a semi-meltdown. His brilliant career has been highlighted by victories at Wengen, Switzerland, and Kitzbuehel, Austria, the most prestigious downhill events on the World Cup, yet he could not come through at Olympic time.

At Turin he finished 10th in downhill, ninth in super-G and did not finish in giant slalom.

“This is not the way I wanted to end it off,” said Rahlves, who will retire at the end of this World Cup season. “It was not a lack of trying, that’s for sure.”

As for the U.S. overall performance?

“It [stinks],” Rahlves said. “We definitely came up very short. It was definitely a poor performance.”

The U.S. men’s best remaining medal chance, in the slalom, comes from an unlikely source, Ligety, who ranks third in the world.

Not yet a proficient giant-slalom skier, Ligety had the fastest time at the second interval when he skied out, yet he clearly represents the future.

“I was going pretty fast,” Ligety said of his run. “I’m not in a position in GS right now where I can just ski down and get a medal.”

Bill Marolt, head of the United States Ski and Snowboard Assn. and the man behind the “Best in the World” campaign, says he will assess the ski team’s performance at the end of the Olympics.

You could argue, after Monday’s landslide, that the Olympics are essentially over.

*

MEDAL WINNERS

ALPINE SKIING, MEN’S GIANT SLALOM

GOLD

* Benjamin Raich, Austria

SILVER

* Joel Chenal, France

BRONZE

* Hermann Maier, Austria