Hinterstoder: Bode Miller wins another super G

Bode Miller won his third World Cup race this season, taking the super G on Wednesday on the same day as Lindsey Kildow's win in Val d'Isere.
    Miller raced down the 1.625-kilometer (1-mile) Wertung course in 1 minute, 9.76 seconds for his 24th career World Cup win.
    The 29-year-old American, who switched to Head skis from Atomic in the offseason, is the only man with more than one World Cup victory this season.
    ''Things are starting to come together for me,'' Miller said. ''My skis are working great. I'm a good skier. I've proved it in the past. But a good skier still requires good skis. In super G and downhill, there's no question, my skis are great.''

HINTERSTODER, Austria — Bode Miller won his third World Cup race this season, taking the super G on Wednesday on the same day as Lindsey Kildow's win in Val d'Isere.
    Miller raced down the 1.625-kilometer (1-mile) Wertung course in 1 minute, 9.76 seconds for his 24th career World Cup win.
    The 29-year-old American, who switched to Head skis from Atomic in the offseason, is the only man with more than one World Cup victory this season.
    ''Things are starting to come together for me,'' Miller said. ''My skis are working great. I'm a good skier. I've proved it in the past. But a good skier still requires good skis. In super G and downhill, there's no question, my skis are great.''
    American T.J. Lanning had his first career scoring result, finishing 19th.
    Miller, who won the overall World Cup title two seasons ago, now leads the overall and super G standings. Last season, he finished third after posting just two World Cup victories.
    Skiers from nine different nations have posted wins in the 13 races so far this season.   
    Miller, who this year wants to peak later in the season and do well at the World Championships in Are, Sweden, in February, said his plan seems to be working. In the past, Miller tended to do well at the start of the season and then drop off.  
    ''I definitely didn't peak early, not as early as I have in the past,'' Miller said. ''[In previous years] I won races all the way up to Christmas but it only happened a couple of times I won anything past the very first or second week of December."
    Miller finished 0.79 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Peter Fill of Italy, who equaled his best career World Cup result. He was second in a super G at Kitzbühel last season.
    ''My preparation has been perfect and so far this has been a perfect season for me,'' said Fill, who has four top-four results.
    Hermann Maier placed third on home snow in 1:10.70 — his first podium result this season. But he angrily smashed his poles on the snow in the finish area.
    ''I was a bit upset because I didn't have a good feeling in my run,'' said Maier, who hurt his shoulder in a fall during course inspection. ''So third place is a big present for me. I wasn't expecting this.''
    The Austrian men, who have only one World Cup victory this season, extended their winless streak to 12 races.
    Skiing's ''Wunderteam'' is in one of its worst slumps in recent history. On Monday at Alta Badia, Italy, the team failed to score a single point in a slalom for the first time since 1986.
    U.S. skiers — men and women — have collected nine podium results in the last six days, including wins from Miller, Steve Nyman, Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow.
    John Kucera of Canada lost the discipline leader's red bib, finishing out of the top 20.
    Nyman went down on his hip near the finish in the super G and nearly crashed but made a stunning recovery. However, the mistake cost him dearly and he also finished out of the top 20.

Miller not perfect
    "I can be pleased with my placing but the run was not very good at all," Miller said at the finish. "I controlled the parts I can control pretty well — I had good power, good flow out of the start but as soon as I got on the pitch, [I made] a few miscalculations and a few turns didn't come around for me as I hoped.
    "I hung on well and I made great recoveries, but the skiing was not my best at all."
      "I got full power out of the start, all the way to the second gate," said Miller, the 2005 World Cup overall and super G champion as well as '05 SG gold medalist at the alpine World Championships. "I was being aggressive."
    Asked about the success of U.S. Ski Team athletes in the past week, Miller said, "I think you're seeing a more mature team now. More and more people are in their middle and late 20s on the team. In the past, people left by their mid-20s. Now, we have 400-point World Cup racers on our team."
    With three wins in three weeks, Miller has surpassed his two victories a year ago; however, it's far too early to think about winning another overall title, he said. "I don't think about it. But my skiing is definitely there in three events, and I think slalom is there but I need more training, and I hope that'll come in January and February."
    He again credited his new-this-season Head skis with playing a major role in the win over slow snow and bumpy run, noting he'd won twice in super G plus the treacherous downhill Dec. 1 at the VISA Birds of Prey races in Beaver Creek.

Lanning breaks through
    Lanning overcame a broken right hand from three weeks ago as he blazed out of the 50th start spot to tie for 19th, producing the first World Cup points of his career.
    "Great day for Bode, for sure … but a great day for T.J., too," said DH/SG head coach Chris Brigham. "T.J.'s still skiing with that broken hand from Birds of Prey [when he crashed Nov. 30 in the downhill front end of a super combined event]. His hand was plated and screwed back together and now he's fine. He keeps it wrapped up because he's still got stitches in there; he has extra padding but it's not affecting T.J.'s skiing.
    "These are his first World Cup points and he deserved 'em; he attacked from the back and you could do that on this snow," Brigham said.
    He said the short track was because the race was run at the top of the mountain. "The normal race hill doesn't have any snow. We're glad they made the changes and we could have a race," Brigham said.
    The men finish their visit to Hinterstoder, their first since the 2000 season, with a slalom Thursday and take off for some holiday time before two downhills Dec. 28-29 in Bormio, Italy. The first DH replaces one lost earlier this month because of low snow in Val d'Isere, France.

Maier dislocates shoulder
Hermann Maier partially dislocated his shoulder in a crash while warming up for a World Cup super G race Wednesday.     
    The Austrian, who still managed to finish third behind Bode Miller and Peter Fill, is still expected to race in
Thursday's giant slalom.
    ''He's for sure has some blue spots on him today. That was quite a crash he had,'' Austrian men's head coach Toni Giger said. ''Luckily he had no knee or ligament injuries. But I think tomorrow he will feel every single spot where he kissed the snow.''
    Giger said Maier misjudged a roll on the course because of the flat light.

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THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's super G, Hinterstoder, Austria, Dec. 20, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
2 Fill, Dynastar/Lange/Look
3 Maier, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Zurbriggen, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia
5 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Buechel, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
7 Streitberger, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
8 Staudacher, Head/Head/Tyrolia
9 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
10 Deneriaz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men's super G, Hinterstoder, Austria, Dec. 20, 2006. … It is the 13th race of the men's 38-event World Cup schedule. … It is the third of six scheduled super G's. … It is the first two events at Hinterstoder, the second a GS scheduled Dec. 21, the final event before a holiday break. … It is the first SG ever contested at Hinterstoder, which had not hosted a World Cup in any discipline since 2000.
    It is the 24th career win for Bode Miller. … His fifth in super G. … It is his third win of the season, matching Marlies Schild's tour-leading number. … It is the 169th U.S. win, seventh of the season and third in three days. … Miller is three wins behind Phil Mahre (27) for the all-time U.S. win record.
    It is the fifth career podium for Peter Fill, and matches his career-best result. … Both of his second-place results have come in super G. … The last Italian man to win a Cup SG was Alessandro Fattori in 2002.
    It is the 93rd career podium for Hermann Maier. … His 35th in SG. … It is his first podium of the season. … Maier holds the career mark for SG wins at 23. … The Austrian men have seven podiums for the season.
    It is the second-best result of the season for Erik Guay, the better a sixth in SG at Lake Louise Nov. 26. … It is the first career scoring result for T.J. Lanning. … It is the first career scoring result for Jeffrey Frisch. … It is the 18th career scoring result for John Kucera. … He was on the podium in the previous two SG's of the season.
    Miller takes the lead in the overall standings 440-421 over Aksel Lund Svindal (11th in race). … Didier Cuche (ninth in race) is third at 392. … Miller leads the SG standings 218-162 over John Kucera. … Peter Fill is third at 140. … Winning margin is .79 of a second. … Top five racers are with a second. … Top 30 within two seconds.

Hinterstoder men's World Cup super G results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	26	532431	MILLER Bode	1977	USA	1:09.76	0.00
2	24	292455	FILL Peter	1982	ITA	1:10.55	11.66
3	30	50423	MAIER Hermann	1972	AUT	1:10.70	13.88
4	1	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	1:10.72	14.17
5	11	50182	STROBL Fritz	1972	AUT	1:10.73	14.32
6	19	350032	BUECHEL Marco	1971	LIE	1:10.85	16.09
7	6	50858	STREITBERGER Georg	1981	AUT	1:10.86	16.24
8	5	290998	STAUDACHER Patrick	1980	ITA	1:10.87	16.39
9	16	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:10.91	16.98
10	9	190930	DENERIAZ Antoine	1976	FRA	1:10.94	17.42
11	29	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:10.95	17.57
12	43	510993	ALBRECHT Daniel	1983	SUI	1:10.98	18.01
13	35	291399	GIRARDI Walter	1976	ITA	1:11.06	19.19
14	28	102263	GUAY Erik	1981	CAN	1:11.08	19.49
15	44	191746	DE TESSIERES Gauthier	1981	FRA	1:11.14	20.38
16	64	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	1:11.16	20.67
17	37	191116	DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel	1977	FRA	1:11.21	21.41
18	38	292056	GUFLER Michael	1979	ITA	1:11.25	22.00
19	50	534567	LANNING Thomas (tj)	1984	USA	1:11.28	22.44
19	25	50451	GRUBER Christoph	1976	AUT	1:11.28	22.44
19	15	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:11.28	22.44
22	34	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	1:11.32	23.03
23	52	501026	RAINER Niklas	1983	SWE	1:11.37	23.77
24	36	292967	EISATH Florian	1984	ITA	1:11.59	27.02
25	39	192746	THEAUX Adrien	1984	FRA	1:11.61	27.32
26	45	510307	BRAND Olivier	1980	SUI	1:11.67	28.20
27	47	292150	HAPPACHER Alex	1979	ITA	1:11.73	29.09
28	55	180449	PELLINEN Jouni	1983	FIN	1:11.74	29.23
29	49	103512	FRISCH Jeffrey	1984	CAN	1:11.75	29.38
29	21	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN	1:11.75	29.38
31	56	560406	GORZA Ales	1980	SLO	1:11.77	29.68
32	27	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	1:11.79	29.97
33	12	50041	WALCHHOFER Michael	1975	AUT	1:11.82	30.42
34	17	50743	LANZINGER Matthias	1980	AUT	1:11.84	30.71
34	13	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:11.84	30.71
36	32	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA	1:11.90	31.60
37	2	560447	SPORN Andrej	1981	SLO	1:11.94	32.19
38	51	201439	STEHLE Johannes	1981	GER	1:12.06	33.96
38	10	532490	MACARTNEY Scott	1978	USA	1:12.06	33.96
40	33	50761	ALSTER Christoph	1980	AUT	1:12.08	34.25
41	53	560332	JERMAN Andrej	1978	SLO	1:12.12	34.85
42	3	510747	GRUENENFELDER Tobias	1977	SUI	1:12.15	35.29
43	48	102271	HUDEC Jan	1981	CAN	1:12.19	35.88
44	41	293141	VARETTONI Silvano	1984	ITA	1:12.26	36.91
44	7	533866	NYMAN Steven	1982	USA	1:12.26	36.91
46	57	533131	SULLIVAN Marco	1980	USA	1:12.27	37.06
47	4	201606	KEPPLER Stephan	1983	GER	1:12.29	37.36
48	54	102961	DIXON Robbie	1985	CAN	1:12.32	37.80
49	14	102814	BOURQUE Francois	1984	CAN	1:12.50	40.46
50	58	421400	MYHRE Lars Elton	1984	NOR	1:12.52	40.75
51	40	150421	ZAHROBSKY Petr	1980	CZE	1:13.15	50.05
52	63	301312	SASAKI Akira	1981	JPN	1:13.53	55.66
53	62	480736	HOROSHILOV Alexandr	1984	RUS	1:13.78	59.35
54	61	700037	HEIMSCHILD Ivan	1980	SVK	1:14.94	76.48

Did not start 1st run:
JAERBYN Patrik (SWE)

Did not finish 1st run:
POISSON David (FRA), LAVOIE Vincent (CAN), OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel (CAN), MICKEL Finlay (GBR), BLARDONE Massimiliano (ITA), SCHEIBER Mario (AUT), HOFFMANN Ambrosi (SUI), KERNEN Bruno (SUI), GRUGGER Hans (AUT)

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World Cup overall standings (after 13 races)

1. Bode Miller, United States, 440 points.
2. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 421.
3. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 392.
4. Peter Fill, Italy, 338.
5. John Kucera, Canada, 253.
6. Ted Ligety, United States, 252.
7. Steven Nyman, United States, 250.
8. Hermann Maier, Austria, 238.
9. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 237.
10. Kalle Palander, Finland, 227.
11. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 226.
12. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 215.
13. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 209.
14. Markus Larsson, Sweden, 190.
15. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 176.

World Cup super G standings (after 3 races)
1. Bode Miller, United States, 218.
2. John Kucera, Canada, 162.
3. Peter Fill, Italy, 140.
4. Hermann Maier, Austria, 110.
5. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 108.
(tie) Christoph Gruber, Austria, 108.
7. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 90.
8. Georg Streitberger, Austria, 85.
9. Antoine Deneriaz, France, 84.
10. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 81.
11. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 79.
12. Erik Guay, Canada, 76.
13. Fritz Strobl, Austria, 65.
14. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 62.
15. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 60.
(tie) Patrik Jaerbyn, Sweden, 60.