Avon, CO – Franconia, N.H.’s Bode Miller took maximum risk, but skied a flawless run to win the Audi Birds of Prey downhill in Beaver Creek, Colo., on Friday.

It was the 33rd Audi FIS Alpine World Cup win of his career with a slim .04 margin over Swiss Beat Feuz in second, followed by Austria’s Klaus Kroell. It was also a historic third win for Miller in the Audi Birds of Prey downhill and his first at Beaver Creek since 2006 when he and teammate Daron Rahlves went one-two. Miller, who showed Friday that at age 34 he still has what it takes, last won a World Cup downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway, in March 2008.

“I love to ski the way I did today. When I came across the finish line I was 100% satisfied, and it’s great to have it coincide with a win,” said Miller. “It was tactics – being able to commit to taking that kind of risk. It’s really demanding on this hill. You see how tight the course is. If you try to back off in any spot, a few tenths can slip away from you and I didn’t back off anywhere. I had my foot on the gas the whole time.

“At the start today I was pretty nervous because I knew that in order to beat these guys and try to give myself a chance to win, I had to take a lot of risk, and that’s something that as you get a bit older, gets a bit tiring to fight that battle,” admitted Miller.

Ted Ligety, of Park City, Utah, was the next American in 22nd as four Americans finished in the top-30 points. Hours later, Lindsey Vonn captured a downhill win in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, to create the first time two Americans had won downhills on the same day since Dec. 2004 when Miller won in Beaver Creek and Vonn (then Kildow) captured the first win of her career in Lake Louise.

“I feel like I had a good run – I’m never going to be fast in that top flat, I don’t think, so to be eight tenths out up there is kind of a bummer, but I feel like I skied really well,” said Ligety.

“Bode skied really well. He threw down an amazing run top to bottom,” added Sasha Rearick, the U.S. Ski Team Alpine Men’s Head Coach. “He executed what he said he was going to do in terms of line. It was aggressive and was fantastic execution. He tucked in places that he hasn’t been tucking, so his downhill form and comfort is coming back and it’s great to see him execute on the race.

“We had four guys in the points, which was really nice to see, but at the same time, they skied better than where they finished,” Rearick added. “I was really proud of Andrew Weibrecht, who skied amazing on the top pitch. The guys showed some moments of brilliance, but didn’t quite put it all together. However, I’m excited to see that progress is being made. They just need to find that level of execution from top to bottom.”

Jan Hudec, of Calgary, Alberta, and Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, were the top Canadians after placing 16th and 17th on the notoriously challenging course.

I tried to take the confidence from Lake Louise and go full bore,” said Hudec. “It’s such a fast course and it’s quite steep. I literally just cleared my mind and went out there wanting to push and go even faster.”

Guay, the 2011 world downhill champion, skied sections of the course with great finesse but ended up finishing four-hundredths of a second behind Hudec in 17th place.

“Jan was forsure pushing hard. He had some really good sections at the top and the very bottom,” said Paul Kristofic, head coach of Canada’s men’s team. “In the technical section, he made some mistakes as a result of pushing hard. Erik was competitive until half-way down.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Birds of Prey Men’s Downhill – Beaver Creek, Colo.
December 2, 2011