Another Positive Stride for Miller

BEAVER CREEK, CO (Dec. 6) – Five-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) rallied into 13th-place despite continuous snow and sub-zero temperatures in the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup opening. Miller, who is back on the World Cup tour after taking a year off to heal his knee, moved up in the results again this week to show continual progress as he guns for a historic fifth Olympics. The U.S. Ski Team posted five athletes in the top 30 with Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal claiming his second downhill win in Beaver Creek. The race will air at 10 p.m. EST Friday on NBC Sports Network.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Five-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) finished 13th, the top spot for the U.S. Ski Team at the Audi Birds of Prey downhill.
• The downhill course combined the upper part of Raptor, the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships women’s speed track, and the bottom part of the traditional Audi Birds of Prey men’s course.
• The U.S. Ski Team pulled out five top-30 results, including Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) finishing on the heels of Miller in 15th.
• U.S. teammates Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT), Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) and Erik Fisher (Middleton, ID) went 21, 28 and 29.
• World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) finished 42nd, starting late in the pack just as snow began turn heavier.
• Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal took the victory, for his second career downhill win in Beaver Creek
• The downhill will be broadcast at 10 p.m. EST on NBC Sports Network.
• Saturday, the men head back up the hill for super G on the Raptor-Prey hybrid course, where World Champion Ligety (Park City, UT) will be gunning for the podium. The race will air live on NBCSN at 2:00 p.m. EST.

QUOTES
Bode Miller
I thought I skied pretty well. I hit the line that I wanted to. I made all the adjustments that I wanted to from yesterday and I took some risk in the turns. I definitely was pushing a bit and I came out on a real high traverse out by Pump House. I think I made the adjustments so even though it’s not a great result, I’m happy with it. I skied the way I needed to ski. Maybe we picked the wrong skis. Maybe it was just weather or nature. I think that’s where we lost it today.

I know my technician will be upset because we weren’t fast on the top. It could be a number of things. You see the wind kind of swirling; it’s doing the same at the top. And on that flat when it’s that slow just a little breeze on your face for four or five seconds, you can feel it. This little dusting of snow is super slow if you get outside the track, but we gave away way too much up there. You can’t be four-tenths out on the top flat.

Travis Ganong
It was a little bumpier than yesterday, which was to be expected. It was actually nice. In the second run we can really take tighter lines and push it in places so that’s what I did today. I stuck to my plan and it really worked. I just got pushed low in one little tiny section and it might have cost me a little bit. But overall, I’m pretty happy with my skiing.

Every once and a while the snow gets faster later or it’s faster earlier, but I like going early every time. I’d rather go early and get it out of the way and stick to my game plan and not look at other people’s skiing and just focus on my skiing.

We always wish we had more shots at it. If we had more runs on it we could definitely be able to find some more time, but one was enough for now. I’m glad we got the race off with all the weather that we had this week.

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