Beaver Creek: Miller skis out, Svindal tops podium

Four gates. Four gates in, that’s as long as the excitement lasted.
    American Bode Miller, poised to energize an overflow partisan crowd at Birds of Prey in Thursday’s slalom portion of the super combined, skied through a gate and into heartbreak, skiing off course just four gates into his run. Miller, fastest by a wide margin in the morning downhill portion, finished just two of eight slaloms last season, and his DNF Thursday handed the win to Norwegian star Aksel Lund Svindal.
    Switzerland’s Marc Berthod was second and Austria’s Rainer Schoenfelder was third. American Ted Ligety, still feeling the effects of a broken right hand, struggled in his slalom portion and finished 10th. Steven Nyman had a solid, solid day to finish 13th, Marco Sullivan was 21st and Jimmy Cochran 27th.

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Four gates. Four gates in, that’s as long as the excitement lasted.
    American Bode Miller, poised to energize an overflow partisan crowd at Birds of Prey in Thursday’s slalom portion of the super combined, skied through a gate and into heartbreak, skiing off course just four gates into his run. Miller, fastest by a wide margin in the morning downhill portion, finished just two of eight slaloms last season, and his DNF Thursday handed the win to Norwegian star Aksel Lund Svindal.
   Switzerland’s Marc Berthod was second and Austria’s Rainer Schoenfelder was third. American Ted Ligety, still feeling the effects of a broken right hand, struggled in his slalom portion and finished 10th. Steven Nyman had a solid, solid day to finish 13th, Marco Sullivan was 21st and Jimmy Cochran 27th.
    “I knew I had to be fast to make a good result because my downhill wasn’t good,” Svindal said after finishing with a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 6.74 seconds. “I think I was 15 or something after downhill [Svindal had been 20th after the downhill leg but his rank was bumped to 12th after many racers did not elect to run the slalom] and obviously that wasn’t something I would be happy with. I had nothing to lose.”
    “I figured I would have to attack 100 percent to make a good result, and when I saw my time I hoped maybe for a top five, a podium would be great. But I didn’t expect to win.” Svindal had the second-best slalom time. He has  just four career World Cup slalom top 10s, but three came in March 2006, including a career-best sixth in Shigakogen, Japan.
    Miller, after struggling to find speed on his new Head skis in Lake Louise last weekend, jolted the crowd with a first-place run of 1 minute, 13.06 seconds, nearly half a second faster than Austrian’s Christoph Gruber, in the downhill.
    “It was a great run. I finally brought it down,” Miller said after that run. “The jumps were pretty big and I got some big air. It was fun.
    “Now it’s up to my slalom performance,” he added with a grin. That performance never really got going, as Miller, running in flat light, make a mistake just out of the start gate and was done just a few gates later. His DNF sparked a mass exodus from the Birds of Prey grandstands, with American race fans left to dream of better results Friday in the downhill.
    Svindal’s previous best in super combined was seventh in 2005 in Val d’Isere, but he was second in the traditional combined at the 2005 Bormio World Championships, was third in the 2006 Kitzbühel combined and was world junior combined gold medalist in 2002.
    It was his first Beaver Creek podium. He was fourth in a 2005 super G here and fourth in a 2004 GS.
    It marked Svindal’s first World Cup win in the discipline, though he is famous for his versatility in both speed and technical events.
    Svindal, one of the few men on the circuit to compete in all five events, could have challenged Austrian Benjamin Raich for the World Cup overall title last season if he hadn’t cracked his ribs in a downhill training crash at Val Gardena before Christmas.
    Despite the injury, which hampered him throughout all of January, Svindal was runner-up to Raich in the overall after capping his season with a downhill win at the Finals in Are.
    “To be honest, I was just so happy I was on the podium I was celebrating already,” Svindal said. “With Bode, he could go out or he could be the fastest guy on the planet. So when I think about it now, there’s a 50-50 chance of him winning or me winning.”
    It was by far the best career result for Berthod, who finished .19 off the top step of the podium. His previous best was seventh in a GS at Adelboden, Switzerland, on Jan. 11, 2005. He turned 23 just last week, and trained only a week of downhill all summer. “For me I was surprised in downhill I had a good feeling today. I am surprised all day because I am the second best and I feel happy,” Berthod said.
    Schoenfelder was second in super combined at Val d'Isere and Chamonix last season. He was third in a Beaver Creek slalom in 2004. Thursday, he was 19th fastest in DH (after racer pullouts), but tops in slalom with a run of 1:15.91.
    "I didn’t know the rule that for some downhill specialists it was possible to not race the slalom any more. So for me, after the downhill I was behind the first 30 and it’s very difficult to race there and come out in front," Schoenfelder said. "Then I get a big surprise at the top of the mountain because they said I was tied for third. Then there was some smell in the air to maybe come into the first 10, first eight. When I was in the finish, I knew I’d had a good run, the second part was a good run. Then I thought, let’s see what happens.”
    Ligety was poised for the podium, but the 2006 Olympic combined gold medalist suffered a diagonal fracture to the second metacarpal bone (index finger) on his right hand when he hit it on a gate while training on the Pitztal glacier in Austria in October, and he's still not able to plant his pole very well.
    Last winter, Ligety was third in slalom here for his first career World Cup podium, but he was unable to duplicate that on Thursday.
    “There’s definitely some positives that can come out of this,” Ligety said. “My downhill is so great right now and it’s good to have that to build some confidence. Slalom has always been my bread and butter event so when I’m suffering there it’s definitely a little worrisome and definitely frustrating.”
    “We’re always looking for a podium in every race, and we had guys in the hunt. But it didn’t work out for Bode … although he had a great downhill and maybe that will play out better for him [Friday] in the downhill. And Ted definitely has a problem with that broken finger, which detracts in slalom,” said Mike Morin, men’s slalom and GS head coach.
    Five different manufacturers were represented among the top seven finishers — Atomic with first and second, Fischer with third and fifth (Ales Gorza), plus Dynastar (Peter Fill, fourth), Elan (Ondrej Bank, sixth) and Rossignol (Jean-Baptiste Grange, seventh).
    Canada's Francois Bourque placed 12th. The course claimed its share of racers who did not finish or were disqualified. T.J. Lanning, who has been skiing fabulously s
ince summer training in Chile, crashed near the finish in the downhill portion. Scott Macartney and Andrew Weibrecht were DQs. Austrian Benni Raich, the winner of the combined title last season, was well back after the downhill and did not finish the slalom.
    Super combined debuted on the World Cup circuit last season, and this season will be the first time FIS awards a crystal globe to the discipline winner. The event combined one shortened downhill run with one run of slalom on the same day.

— Ski Racing's Hilary Lund, Hank McKee and Sam Flickinger contributed to this report

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s super combined, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Nov. 30, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
4 Fill, Dynastar/Lange/Look
5 Gorza, Atomic/Lange/Atomic
6 Bank, Elan/Nordica/Elan
7 Grange, Rossignol//
8 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
9 Rainer, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s super combined, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Nov. 30, 2006. … It is the fourth race of the men’s 38-event 2007 World Cup schedule. … It is the first of five scheduled combineds for the men. … It is the first race of a four-race slate at Beaver Creek. … It is the first men’s World Cup combined ever held in the United States and the first for either gender since December 1989 women Brigitte Oertli won in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
    It is the third career World Cup victory for Aksel Lund Svindal and his first in combined, the others coming in super G at Lake Louise on Nov. 27, 2005, and in downhill at Are, March 15, 2006. … He is the third Norwegian man to win a World Cup combined, following Lasse Kjus, who won four, and Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who has won eight. … Winning margin was .19 of a second. … The top six finishers were within the same second. … It is the first win at Beaver Creek for a Norwegian since Kjus won the GS Dec. 4, 2004. … Svindal, 23, had been 20th after the downhill leg but his rank was bumped to 12th after many racers did not elect to run the slalom.
    It is the first career podium for Marc Berthod and just his eighth career scoring result in World Cup. … His previous best result had been seventh in GS at Adelboden, Jan. 11, 2005. … His only other combined result was 14th at Wengen Jan. 13, 2006. … He is six days past his 23rd birthday.
    It is the 20th career podium for Rainer Schoenfelder. … His third in combined, the other two being second-place finishes at Val d’Isere Dec. 11, 2005, and Chamonix Feb. 3, 2006. … He was also the bronze-medal winner in combined at Torino. … He is 29.
    Ted Ligety, in 10th, led the Americans. … That placing matches the second-best result of the season after Julia Mancuso’s seventh in GS at Aspen. … It also matches his career best in combined, which he had previously accomplished twice, at Val d’Isere Dec. 11, 2005, and Chamonix Feb. 3, 2006. … Ligety had the 12th-best slalom result and 11th-best DH legs. … Francois Bourque led the Canadians in 12th place. … It is his second-best combined result after a ninth place scored at Kitzbühel Jan. 22, 2006. … Bourque had been sixth in DH and 16th in the slalom legs. … Steven Nyman finished 13th on the day. … It is his third-best career result, and second-best in combined, the best being a sixth at Kitzbühel Jan. 22, 2006. … Marco Sullivan finished 21st. … It matches his 10- best career result and it is his first in combined. … It is also the first World Cup combined result for Jimmy Cochran and his first points gained in the States … Downhill winner Bode Miller failed to negotiate the slalom course.
Italian skier Peter Fill, the fourth-place finisher, moved past Benjamin Raich (DNF in slalom) for the lead of the World Cup overall standings 134-123. … Schoenfelder moves into third place. … Nyman leads the Americans in the men’s standings in 10th place, with 45 points.

Beaver Creek World Cup men's super combi results

For complete results, click here.

Did not finish slalom run
Benjamin Raich, Austria; Michael Walchhofer, Austria; Bode Miller, United States.

World Cup overall standings
(After four of 38 races)
1. Peter Fill, Italy, 134 points.
2. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 126.
3. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 123.
4. John Kucera, Canada, 118.
5. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 110.
6. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 105.
7. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 102.
8. Hermann Maier, Austria, 90.
9. Markus Larsson, Sweden 80.
(tie) Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canada, 80.
(tie) Marc Berthod, Switzerland 80.
12. Patrik Jaerbyn, Sweden, 75.
13. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 74.
(tie) Didier Defago, Switzerland, 74.
15. Bruno Kernen, Switzerland, 61.

World Cup Combined Standings
(After one of six races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 100.
2. Marc Berthod, Switzerland, 80.
3. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 60.
4. Peter Fill, Italy, 50.
5. Ales Gorza, Slovenia, 45.
6. Ondrej Bank, Czech Republic, 40.
7. Jean-Baptiste Grange, France, 36.
8. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 32.
9. Niklas Rainer, Sweden, 29.
10. Ted Ligety, United States, 26.