Miller loses some of his lead

WHISTLER, Canada -- Bode Miller came to Canada hoping to extend his lead on Austria’s Benjamin Raich in the battle for the prestigious World Cup skiing overall title.

Instead, Miller lost ground on the courses to be used at the 2010 Vancouver Games, seeing his lead over Raich shrink from 93 points to 45 with nine races remaining.

“Not great,” Miller’s coach, John McBride, said in summing up the weekend.

Miller earned 36 points for his seventh-place finish in Saturday’s giant slalom race while Raich earned 60 for finishing third.

Raich also picked up 24 points for finishing 11th in Thursday’s super giant slalom while Miller was shut out after he skied off course.

Austria’s Hannes Reichel won Saturday’s GS with a two-run time of 2:37.43. Didier Cuche of Switzerland finished second at 2:37.82 and also gained ground on Miller in the overall chase.

Ted Ligety, winner of the combined gold at the 2006 Turin Games, was the highest U.S. finisher in Saturday’s GS -- fourth.

“Not the position you ever really want,” Ligety said

Miller, skiing as an independent after leaving the U.S. Ski team last spring, continues to lead the World Cup overall standings with 1,103 points, followed by Raich at 1,058 and Cuche at 998.

Miller won two silver medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, but four years later failed to medal in five events at Turin. He had said he would not race at the Vancouver Olympics but Saturday left the possibility open.

“I’m just not thinking about that right now,” he said.

Miller, never shy to offer an opinion, had this to say about the Olympic Alpine skiing venue.

“The mountains are great out here,” Miller said. “I don’t really have a whole lot to say about the courses. They’re really flat, moderate, very moderate courses. That’s not to say they can’t be challenging. With the right snow conditions they can be really tough. But with the terrain available here, it seems crazy to run the Olympics on these particular hills.”

Miller’s battle with Raich, the 2006 World Cup overall champion and a double gold-medal winner at the Turin Games, continues next week when the circuit moves to Kvitfjell, Norway.

The overall title may not be decided until the World Cup Finals, which will be held March 12-16 in Bormio, Italy.

The Whistler World Cup stop ends today with a women’s super combined event featuring overall leader Lindsey Vonn, the 23-year-old American who clinched the World Cup downhill title with her second-place finish Friday.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com