BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Pushing the super G back a day proved to be the right decision as the men raced under sunny skies to open the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships in Beaver Creek. In a dramatic race with its share of carnage, two downhill contenders, Bode Miller and Kjetil Jansrud, came away from the day a little dinged up, while Canadian Dustin Cook risked it all on his way to a surprise silver medal performance. Cook finished between Austria’s Hannes Reichelt and France’s Adrien Theaux, who claimed gold and bronze, respectively.

But perhaps the day’s biggest story came in the form of a racer who did not finish. Miller, running ninth in his first event of the season, held a half-second lead through three split times bringing the Red Tail finish stadium to a roar. The fans were quickly silenced, however, as Miller cut the line a little too close after landing the Golden Eagle Jump, clipping his arm on a gate and getting spun through the air into the Abyss. It wasn’t the first time the Abyss gobbled Miller up, but it might be the last.

Bode Miller’s crash. GEPA

Miller skied to the finish under his own power, clearly banged up. It wasn’t until a camera operator in the finish area zoomed in on a deep laceration on the back of Miller’s leg that the crowd realized the potential significance of his injuries. Miller received medical attention on site and was taken immediately to the hospital for evaluation. As of press time, there was no further word on Miller’s condition or plans for racing this week.

The tough news didn’t end there for the Americans. Ted Ligety, attempting to defend his gold medal in this event, led the team in ninth. Unlike Schladming two years ago, Thursday’s super G was less favorable for the GS specialist. Also adding to the struggles for the team, the track was softer than the Americans prefer and anticipated.

“The snow was just super, super soft especially on the bottom half and on the flatter sections, so when it’s like that it definitely favors the bigger guys, more speed-oriented guys,” said Ligety. “It snowed a lot for the last few days, so there’s definitely a lot of soft stuff in there. I felt like I skied pretty well, but when the conditions are like that I’m going to have to have an exceptional run on those flatter sections in order to stay even close.

“I was one of the faster guys on the top section, which is more the kind of section that I should be skiing fast in, sections more similar to giant slalom,” added Ligety. “I’m happy with that, just you know when I weigh 30 pounds less than most of my competitors I’m going to lose a ton of time on flat sections if it’s soft snow. If it’s ice, then I can stay close.”

As is often the case in any medal event, those who were willing to take the most risk fared the best. That was Cook’s game plan as he skied to the best result of his career.

“The strategy was pretty much just send it,” said Cook. “I watched a lot of guys, had some confidence, loved the track and the way it was set. I just tried to go as hard as I could pretty much.”

Cook was able to stay in his tuck more than most of his competition, capitalizing mostly on the bottom half of the course, which was set a little straighter.

“We’ve been working on aerodynamics a lot,” said Cook. “When you’re able to get in your tuck a little more, you’re sending it a little more. I was trying to stay in that mindset throughout the run. … I’ve been skiing fast in training for too many years. This year I’ve had a lot of good results, nothing crazy, and then really good splits. For me, it’s the culmination of a lot of years. Nobody in Europe knows who I am so obviously for them it’s surprising for those guys.”

Cook, who is now in his seventh season with the Canadian team, hails from Ottawa and was raised by ski instructor parents on the slopes of Mont Ste-Marie. He is in the middle of his first season racing the full World Cup calendar, and even the Canadian press doubted the ability of its national team to turn any heads at the World Championships.

“That’s the best way to refute what (some of the Canadian press) was saying,” Cook noted after winning the silver medal. “We are definitely an under appreciated sport in Canada. I hope this will get some media attention and get the word out there that just because some of our top guys are unfortunately injured that we’re not down and out. We still have good guys that are coming up.”

For Reichelt, the accomplishments continue to add up. The 34-year-old Austrian claimed his first Hahnenkamm downhill victory last season; this year, he won Wengen and now also boasts a World Championship gold medal and his fourth super G victory at Beaver Creek. (In 2011, he took silver in Garmisch, also in the super G.)

He finished with a time of 1 minute, 15.68 seconds, just 0.11 seconds ahead of Cook and 0.24 ahead of Theaux.

“On this slope, it’s easy for me to be fast. But in the start, I was really nervous,” said Reichelt. “Ten seconds before I started, I said, OK, ski aggressive. Don’t say in the finish area, I didn’t do everything I can. I was pushing hard at the top. In the middle, I made a small mistake, but the biggest mistake was over the finish jump. This isn’t like me. Normally, I become faster and faster toward the end. Not this run.”

The bronze for Theaux was the first medal of his career.

“It was difficult start for me this year, so that’s why I’m more happy with this medal. It’s just a great, great day for me – beautiful day. I think for my life the most beautiful. … I was close to the podium in Kitzbuehel and now I’m on it, so it’s just perfect.

“I made a mistake on the top so I said, OK, I did one mistake and I think every guy does a mistake today because a lot of guys want to push a lot to win,” added Theaux.

Kjetil Jansrud, who has dominated the speed tour this season and was favored by many for Saturday’s downhill, got wrapped around a gate early in his run. The Norwegian managed to ski through the pain and several other small errors to finish in an impressive tie for fourth. He was hunched over in the finish area and then exited the corral with his left shoulder wrapped in ice. The Norwegian federation said he was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center for examination due to continued pain but is hopeful he will still race in Saturday’s downhill.

Coming off a recent fifth-place result in Kitzbuehel and his silver medal in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Andrew Weibrecht was perhaps the best bet for the American team. He made a critical mistake on the upper part of the course, chucking his skis sideways, and was never able to recover. He finished the day 20th.

“The snow was a little bit softer, more aggressive than what we’re accustomed to here,” said Weibrecht. “With all the new snow it was a little bit different than it is normal. I don’t think I really prepared for that as well as I should have. … I think I could have been in the top 10. Honestly, I think for me personally I excel a lot more when the snow is hard. I don’t think I could have expected much more than that. And with that big mistake up top, for sure I couldn’t have expected to be anywhere other than where I was today.”

Travis Ganong also found the snow problematic.

“I didn’t get late on the pitch — that was my plan. The snow was just not good enough to push on,” said Ganong. “I should have changed my plan and set up a lot more for that turn. It’s not the same snow that we’re used to — super soft and bally. The water they put on the hill didn’t freeze and it didn’t come up. … The report from the coaches was the snow is great — you can push on it and hammer. So that’s what I tried to do, but I lost the ski.”

Aksel Lund Svindal was one of the day’s most pleasant surprises. After not racing all season due to a torn Achilles tendon in October, the Norwegian charged back to ski without pain and finish sixth on the day.

“My expectations coming in was to do a downhill training run and see if I should go home or if I should stay here,” said Svindal. “I did a downhill training run, didn’t ski awesome but I felt safe at least. Today I figured – nothing to lose – let’s just see what happens. … I’m only 15 hundredths or something out today, so there’s always hope (for a medal). I’m a little surprised, I have to say. It was a lot of fun.”’

The men race downhill on Saturday following another scheduled training run.

See more photos from the race here.

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

1 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

2 Cook, Head/Head/Head

3 Theaux, Head/Head/Head

4 Jansrud, Head/Head/Head

4 Mayer, Head/Head/Head

6 Svindal, Head/Head/Head

7 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

8 Streitberger, Head/Head/Head

9 Ligety, Head/Head/Head

10 Kosi, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s World Championship super G, Beaver Creek, USA, Feb. 5, 2015:

• The race was delayed one day by snow and wind. … It is the second race of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. … It is the 30^th World Championship super G … the 287^th World Championship event. … Ted Ligety is the defending champion. … Kjetil Jansrud leads the 2015 World Cup super G standings and Dominik Paris won the last World Cup SG, in Kitzbuehel, Jan. 23. … Hannes Reichelt won the last super G at Beaver Creek, Dec. 6. … The first World Championship super G was held Feb. 2, 1987.
• It is the second World Championship super G medal for Hannes Reichelt, his first gold. … He won silver at Garmisch in 2011. … It is this third win of the season having previously won the Beaver Creek super G Dec. 6 and the Wengen downhill Jan. 18. … The winning margin is .11 of  a second. … Top 15 finishers are within the same second.
• It is the first World Championship result and medal for Dustin Cook. … His career best World Cup result is 12^th achieved in the Val Gardena and Beaver Creek super Gs this season. … It is the first Canadian World Championship medal in super G.
• It is the first career World Championship medal for Adrien Theaux. … His best previous finish had been fifth in downhill at Val d’Isere 2009.
• It is the second best career World Championship SG result for Ted Ligety. … It is his best SG result of the season. … It is the second best SG finish in a World Championship for Steven Nyman. … It is the best career World Championship result for Andrew Weibrecht. … It is the first career World Championship result for Morgan Pridy. … It is the fifth (and fifth best) championship result for Benjamin Thomsen.
• Austria leads the medal count with two gold; The Slovenes and Canadians each have one silver; The U.S. and France one bronze.

Results