YOUR AD HERE »

Bode turns back the clock

Chris Freud
Vail Daily
Post Independent
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
CVR Bode Wins DT 12-2-11
ALL |

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado – This is what makes us watch.

Bode Miller turned back the clock Friday at Beaver Creek, delivering a vintage Bode run for his 33rd career World Cup win and his third downhill victory at Birds of Prey.

“It’s good,” Miller said amid a mob of reporters. “This hill’s a pleasure to run every time, but, just like anything, it’s truly challenging and scary at the start. It’s hard to get excited to run it. You’re nervous to run it and when you’re at the finish line it’s awesome.”



And between the start and finish it was the Miller that Birds of Prey and American ski fans remembered from his prime – a go-for-broke approach, a bit of drama and a whole lot of speed.

“I think [it was] tactics, being able to commit to that kind of risk,” Miller said. “The risk is really demanding on this hill. You can’t back off at all. You see how tight the course is. If you try to back off at any spot, it can take stuff away from you really fast. Today, I didn’t back off anywhere, even though I had a couple little bobbles, I had my foot on the gas the whole time. I think that’s what separated me.”



Though running 12th, ahead of most of his competition, Miller laid down what looked the winning run at the time (1 minute, 43.82 seconds), but it was tight.

Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, pronounced Bay-at Fuse, surged on the lower half of the course from the No. 19 bib coming within four-hundredths of a second for second place. Austria’s Klaus Kroell slid into third just 14-hundredths behind.

It was the first time Miller won on home snow since his 2006 downhill victory here – he has four wins at Beaver Creek, including the 2005 giant slalom.

His last World Cup triumph came in 2010 in a super-combined in Wengen, Switzerland.

And with Lindsey Vonn winning the women’s downhill up in Lake Louise, Alberta, it was quite the day for the U.S. Ski Team. The last time two Americans won in the World Cup on the same day was Dec. 19, 2010, with Ted Ligety winning GS and Vonn taking a super-combined – both in Alta Badia, Italy. For a downhill sweep, one has to go back to Dec. 3, 2004, when Miller won here and Vonn was doing her usual number in Alberta.

cfreud@vaildaily.com


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.