Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – Four-time World Champion Bode Miller produced a run in Wednesday’s FIS Alpine World Ski Championship super G like only he can. Miller, of Franconia, N.H., was leading by .29 before his right pole was ripped out of his hand on a gate. He then continued to build his lead to .93 before losing balance near the bottom and standing up into the finish. Miller ended the day 12th as 30 racers, including Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety failed to finish. American Tommy Ford was 14th and teammate Travis Ganong 18th with Italian Christof Innerhofer taming the unforgiving Kandahar track for victory.nHannes Reichelt of Austria earned silver, while Croatian sensation Ivica Kostelic completed the podium with the bronze medal.
“I wasn’t out of the race when I hooked my arm. It was a matter of making it to the finish without a big mistake and I probably couldn’t have avoided that mistake with a pole,” Miller explained. “You saw Aksel (Lund Svindal, of Norway) blow out right there too and Aksel is one of the best in the world. It’s not the way I wanted to start it, but the speed is good. It’s encouraging to see that I have the right tactics. I just need to hang on to all my equipment until I get to the finish.”
The bumpy, icy Kandahar course resulted in a slew of DNF’s, including Canada’s best hopes for a medal, Erik Guay and Jan Hudec. Miller, however, said that it’s the kind of course that separates the world’s best in a World Championships environment.
“It was challenging, but I think this course is exactly what it should be. I mean this is the World Championships. If it was really smooth and soft, then it’s really basic and I don’t think it’s a great race in that case,” Miller said. “It was bumpy enough and fast enough that it was challenging. You see a lot of guys making mistakes, but then you see a guy like Innerhofer ski that way and he deserves to win it. He was one of the only guys that was really pushing and taking some risk. I was impressed with the way he skied.”
Innerhofer’s attacking run placed him ahead of Reichelt by a significant 0.60 second margin. Defending champion Didier Cuche, of Switzerland, was fourth.
“It was a tough course, for sure – probably the toughest super G we’ve seen all year,” confirmed Guay. “But this is the world championships.”
“It was rattly and tough,” added Ligety. “Running number two was hard because you don’t know the exact tactics on where to back off and where you have to attack. I tried to attack the whole way and obviously that wasn’t the correct tactic.”
It was the first World Championships race for both Ford, of Bend, Ore., and Squaw Valley, Calif.’s Ganong.
“Tommy did a great job, I’m proud of him,” said U.S. Ski Team men’s head coach, Sasha Rearick. “He skied the top flat really well, which was one of the reasons we were thinking about not racing him. But then he skied solid through the technical sections and down to the finish. We’re seeing Tommy starting to emerge in super G and it’s also good to have him on this hill for the GS.”
Canada’s Ben Thomsen marked his world championship debut with a top-20 finish, crossing the line and stopping the clock in 19th place as the only member of the injury-plagued Canadian team to finish Wednesday’s race.
“My goal was top 15, so I’m happy with it,” said Thomsen, 23, of Invermere, British Columbia. “You always want to do better but I put a hell of a run together.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2011 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – February 9, 2011
Super G
Gold: Christof Innerhofer, Italy, 1:38.31
Silver: Hannes Reichelt, Austria, 1:38.91
Bronze: Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 1:39.03