Super G win follows dowhill victory
March 6th, 2005
KVITFJELL, Norway (March 6) - Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) set the stage Sunday for the final shootout with Austrian Benjamin Raich for the overall World Cup title as they finished 4-5 (with Raich in fourth place) behind Austrian Hermann Maier in the next-to-last super G of the season.
Miller, who has led the World Cup standings since the opening race of the season, gave up five points to Raich and leads by 52 heading into World Cup Finals later this week in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Raich received 50 points for fourth place, Miller got 45 for fifth; with four races left, Miller is at 1,348 and Raich has 1,296.
Maier won for the second time in 24 hours - and the 50th time in his career, winning in 1:32.98 as he took the super G points lead from Miller; Swiss Didier Defago was second (1:33.81). The victory ties him with Alberto Tomba for second place behind Ingemar Stenmark, who won 86 World Cup races.
Miller got an assist from Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA), who nailed the bottom of the Olympic run once more and nosed in ahead of Raich by one-hundredth of a second, finishing third at 1:33.86. Raich was fourth and Miller, who led through the two interval checkpoints, was fifth at 1:34.29.
Miller: "I want to be winning..."
He was philosophical about probably not being super champion. "The chances are small now [for the title]," Miller said. "He has to make a big mistake and I have to win the last race. And for me to win the overall I want to be winning these last races or I need at least to beat the other two guys because the margins are small now."
Miller added, "My lead over Raich is really small. I need to be winning, so I'm going to manage the races with that in mind."
After his third top-3 of the season, Rahlves said, "I skied really well and I'm happy with that." A year ago, he was second in the downhill and super points after winning two DHs and a pair of super Gs. In addition to his two super G podiums this season, he also collected two medals at the World Championships - silver in DH behind Miller, bronze in giant slalom behind Maier and Raich.
"It's just that the win has been eluding all season long. I had some very close ones, a few seconds," Rahlves went on. "It's a little frustrating. I had big goals. I wanted to win six races this season. I had four wins last year. Still have my chances in the World Cup Finals. I've never been to Lenzerheide, but I just feel like I'm due."
"Bode was skiing a great run," said Head Coach Phil McNichol, "and he came into this compression below the Daytona turn, where [Austrian Michael] Walchhofer crashed [Saturday] in the downnhill, and Bode wasn't taking any risks, but he hit that compression and his knees buckled and he made a great save to keep himself in the course. But that's where he lost it.
"It's disappointing," McNichol said, "because Bode wasn't doing anything wild, but he may have given away the super G title, too. Hermann's back in the lead [by 54 points, 424-370] and now there's only that one coming up on Thursday."
Rahlves' setup under scrutiny
He has mixed emotions about Rahlves' run, pleased with the podium but mystified about how he dropped time into the middle of the 2.6K course before picking up time at the bottom.
"Daron was really fast again on the bottom, but he's been having some trouble with dry, grippy snow for gliding. We've made adjustments to his [equipment] setup," he said, "and thought we had it figured, especially with the changes after the super G and before the downhill [where Rahlves took the silver medal behind Miller] at Worlds. His [Atomic] skis are fast, but something's not working. We've got our sleeves rolled up and Atomic's working on it with us...and we'll get it."
The U.S. Ski Team will have eight women and five men racing at World Cup Finals. Miller (all four events) and Rahlves (DH, super G and giant slalom) will be Dane Spencer (Boise, ID - GS), Erik Schlopy (Park City, UT - slalom) and Ted Ligety (also Park City, also SL).
World Cup Finals begin Wednesday with men's and women's downhills; men never have raced a World Cup in Lenzerheide and, weather permitting, will have one training run Tuesday. The men's DH begins at 3:30 a.m. ET and the women's is scheduled to get underway at 6:30 a.m. ET. To "watch" the races through live timing intervals, go to: http://livetiming.usskiteam.com/
ALPINE WORLD CUP
Kvitfjell, NOR - March 6, 2005
Men's Super G
1. Hermann Maier, Austria, 1:32.98
2. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 1:33.81
3. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 1:33.86
4. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1:33.87
5. Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H., 1:34.29
