Bode makes it two for two in Lake Louise training

Make it two for two.

Nothing really counts yet, but Bode Miller has won both of the opening training runs for the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart, the opening downhill race of the 2009 World Cup circuit. There is another training run scheduled for Friday with the official race on tap Saturday.

If the first win, on Wednesday, was a close call, this run was a single click away from the closest possible. Miller beat Klaus Kroell of Austria to the finish by just .02 of a second. Kroell also was second in the opening trainer, that time by .08.

Third on Thursday went to the defending World Cup downhill champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland. He had been fourth in the opening training run, and closed the gap to .08 in today’s second run. Italian Werner Heel posted fourth with Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway in fifth, but exponentially further back. Heel was .12 off Miller’s time, Svindal .55 of a second.

Canadians, who have done well on the course in recent seasons, included Erik Guay in 13th, John Kucera in 15th and Manuel Osborne-Paradis 23rd.

Along with Miller, the U.S. had Steven Nyman 18th, Marco Sullivan 21st and a strong result from Andrew Weibrecht in a three-way tie for 24th.

While the course has been in excellent condition, it started to break up a bit after the first seed, but course workers have been injecting sections of the course to harden it.

Ironically, the course is not that well suited to Miller. It is considered among the easier courses on the men’s circuit and he typically does better on more difficult terrain. He is definitely skiing well, having placed in the top 10 of the October GS at Soelden, Austria and second in the Levi, Finland, slalom a couple of weeks ago.

Miller won three downhills last season and was second twice when he finished second to Cuche for the downhill title. He was 20th at Lake Louise last season, easily his worst DH result of the year. Anything in the top 10 would be indicative of a fast start this season. A win Saturday would put him firmly in the leadership role.

Plans for celebrating the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weren’t real firm, but indications from Team America pointed toward a little hockey with the Canadians.

Make it two for two.

Nothing really counts yet, but Bode Miller has won both of the opening training runs for the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart, the opening downhill race of the 2009 World Cup circuit. There is another training run scheduled for Friday with the official race on tap Saturday.
If the first win, on Wednesday, was a close call, this run was a single click away from the closest possible. Miller beat Klaus Kroell of Austria to the finish by just .02 of a second. Kroell also was second in the opening trainer, that time by .08.

Third on Thursday went to the defending World Cup downhill champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland. He had been fourth in the opening training run, and closed the gap to .08 in today’s second run. Italian Werner Heel posted fourth with Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway in fifth, but exponentially further back. Heel was .12 off Miller’s time, Svindal .55 of a second.

Canadians, who have done well on the course in recent seasons, included Erik Guay in 13th, John Kucera in 15th and Manuel Osborne-Paradis 23rd.

Along with Miller, the U.S. had Steven Nyman 18th, Marco Sullivan 21st and a strong result from Andrew Weibrecht in a three-way tie for 24th.

While the course has been in excellent condition, it started to break up a bit after the first seed, but course workers have been injecting sections of the course to harden it.

Ironically, the course is not that well suited to Miller. It is considered among the easier courses on the men’s circuit and he typically does better on more difficult terrain. He is definitely skiing well, having placed in the top 10 of the October GS at Soelden, Austria and second in the Levi, Finland, slalom a couple of weeks ago.

Miller won three downhills last season and was second twice when he finished second to Cuche for the downhill title. He was 20th at Lake Louise last season, easily his worst DH result of the year. Anything in the top 10 would be indicative of a fast start this season. A win Saturday would put him firmly in the leadership role.

Plans for celebrating the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weren’t real firm, but indications from Team America pointed toward a little hockey with the Canadians.
Second training run, Lake Louise men’s downhill, Nov. 27, 2008

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time
1	8	532431	MILLER Bode	1977	USA	1:45.37
2	10	50753	KROELL Klaus	1980	AUT	1:45.39
3	20	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:45.45
4	12	292514	HEEL Werner	1982	ITA	1:45.49
5	9	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:45.92
6	11	560332	JERMAN Andrej	1978	SLO	1:46.01
7	16	50041	WALCHHOFER Michael	1975	AUT	1:46.13
8	24	51005	SCHEIBER Mario	1983	AUT	1:46.29
9	21	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:46.47
10	47	510498	ZUEGER Cornel	1981	SUI	1:46.48
11	33	510993	ALBRECHT Daniel	1983	SUI	1:46.51
12	17	292455	FILL Peter	1982	ITA	1:46.60
13	7	102263	GUAY Erik	1981	CAN	1:46.64
14	5	50858	STREITBERGER Georg	1981	AUT	1:46.65
15	22	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN	1:46.77
16	36	500150	JAERBYN Patrik	1969	SWE	1:46.82
17	18	50423	MAIER Hermann	1972	AUT	1:46.86
18	2	533866	NYMAN Steven	1982	USA	1:47.00
19	13	350032	BUECHEL Marco	1971	LIE	1:47.05
20	23	50451	GRUBER Christoph	1976	AUT	1:47.27
21	19	533131	SULLIVAN Marco	1980	USA	1:47.31
22	73	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	1:47.35
23	14	102899	OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel	1984	CAN	1:47.37
24	45	530939	WEIBRECHT Andrew	1986	USA	1:47.41
24	32	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:47.41
24	1	51215	BAUMANN Romed	1986	AUT	1:47.41
27	37	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	1:47.43
28	31	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	1:47.45
29	35	292491	MOELGG Manfred	1982	ITA	1:47.46
29	29	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	1:47.46
31	15	510767	HOFFMANN Ambrosi	1977	SUI	1:47.47
32	6	532490	MACARTNEY Scott	1978	USA	1:47.58
33	3	291641	SULZENBACHER Kurt	1976	ITA	1:47.61
34	74	511383	FEUZ Beat	1987	SUI	1:47.69
35	4	191591	BERTRAND Yannick	1980	FRA	1:47.75
36	34	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	1:47.78
37	66	102961	DIXON Robbie	1985	CAN	1:47.84
38	41	192932	FAYED Guillermo	1985	FRA	1:47.87
39	28	192746	THEAUX Adrien	1984	FRA	1:47.89
39	25	191740	CLAREY Johan	1981	FRA	1:47.89
41	44	380292	ZRNCIC-DIM Natko	1986	CRO	1:47.90
42	39	534567	LANNING T.J.	1984	USA	1:47.91
42	30	510747	GRUENENFELDER Tobias	1977	SUI	1:47.91
44	57	511039	KREUZER Ralf	1983	SUI	1:47.99
45	40	50919	STRUGER Peter	1982	AUT	1:48.04
46	51	560447	SPORN Andrej	1981	SLO	1:48.09
47	26	501076	OLSSON Hans	1984	SWE	1:48.10
48	53	150421	ZAHROBSKY Petr	1980	CZE	1:48.15
49	42	292291	THANEI Stefan	1981	ITA	1:48.19
50	50	50831	GRAGGABER Thomas	1981	AUT	1:48.34
51	54	293550	MARSAGLIA Matteo	1985	ITA	1:48.39
52	27	191964	POISSON David	1982	FRA	1:48.45
53	76	201987	STRODL Andreas	1987	GER	1:48.48
54	60	102814	BOURQUE Francois	1984	CAN	1:48.49
55	43	191116	DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel	1977	FRA	1:48.61
56	65	533842	FRANCIS Kevin	1982	USA	1:48.62
57	69	510307	BRAND Olivier	1980	SUI	1:48.72
58	46	561067	PERKO Rok	1985	SLO	1:48.74
59	77	201542	STRODL Peter	1982	GER	1:48.78
60	63	561006	GLEBOV Alek	1983	SLO	1:48.87
61	55	421400	MYHRE Lars Elton	1984	NOR	1:48.89
62	79	40255	BRAUER Jono	1981	AUS	1:48.93
63	49	533762	TRANSUE Jeremy	1983	USA	1:48.97
64	48	290998	STAUDACHER Patrick	1980	ITA	1:48.99
65	68	561085	KRIZAJ Andrej	1986	SLO	1:49.05
66	56	103090	HELIE Louis-Pierre	1986	CAN	1:49.07
67	72	380298	SIROKI Tin	1987	CRO	1:49.11
68	64	534939	FISHER Erik	1985	USA	1:49.17
69	58	292967	EISATH Florian	1984	ITA	1:49.27
70	82	421483	JANSRUD Kjetil	1985	NOR	1:49.55
71	62	533098	FRIEDMAN Bryon	1980	USA	1:49.61
72	52	191911	NOCENTI Cyril	1982	FRA	1:49.69
73	70	201606	KEPPLER Stephan	1983	GER	1:49.88
73	61	103512	FRISCH Jeffrey	1984	CAN	1:49.88
75	75	220228	MICKEL Finlay	1977	GBR	1:49.96
76	67	201811	STECHERT Tobias	1985	GER	1:50.02
77	71	191415	BOTTOLLIER-LASQUIN Marc	1979	FRA	1:50.12
78	90	50600	GOERGL Stephan	1978	AUT	1:50.43
79	78	191746	DE TESSIERES Gauthier	1981	FRA	1:50.88
80	81	292831	PIERUZ Aronne	1983	ITA	1:51.21
81	80	501230	ERICSSON Daniel	1987	SWE	1:51.35
82	87	380291	RATKIC Ivan	1986	CRO	1:51.82
83	86	480997	TARANENKO Mikhail	1988	RUS	1:52.31
84	85	292000	BLARDONE Massimiliano	1979	ITA	1:52.37
85	83	102727	STUTZ Paul	1983	CAN	1:52.41
86	88	430429	BYDLINSKI Maciej	1988	POL	1:53.20
87	84	480736	HOROSHILOV Alexandr	1984	RUS	1:53.66
88	89	700724	BABUSIAK Jaroslav	1984	SVK	1:54.66