How Bode Got Booted

Fuori is the word in Italian. Out. That's what Bode Miller was after the first slalom run in the men's combined event in Sestriere, a race in which he was crushing the competition. But after Miller completed his first slalom run, race officials said he had hooked a gate about halfway down the course—one foot was inside the pole, in other words—and he was DQed. Although in typical Miller fashion, he wasn't POed. "I didn't protest. It's all totally out of my hands, you just deal with it... I have straddled probably more times than most people have finished slalom. It's a drag, but the downhill was good and I made it to the finish. That's at least half the battle for me."

Up until that point, Miller had not only battled the mountain at Sestriere Borgata, he brought the course to its knees, winning the downhill part of the combined. He threw himself out of the start house and quickly reached 126.48 kph—fastest on the day—at the first interval timing, slicing through the two tough turns in the upper part of the course. Nor did he make the mistake that had cost him a medal in the downhill, when he gave up too much speed in the lower section. Miller's time of 1:38.36 was .32 secs ahead of Didier Defago of France and more than two seconds on the favorite, Benny Raich of Austria.

Miller looked certain to make that lead stand. "I came out of the downhill and I was ready to be on the podium. A few things didn't go my way. Obviously I was in position to win by a significant margin, even with poor skiing in the first run." That didn't happen either. Miller again came out with authority in his trademark "backseat" style, piling over the two bumps in the upper part of the Sestriere Colle slalom run. At the end of the run, Miller had a .97 second lead on Raich heading into the second run. In other words, he was winning by a mile. Raich, perhaps the best skier in the world right now, would need a miracle to catch him. Or a race official's ruling. No problem, says Miller, "At least I don't have to go all the way down to Torino tomorrow" for the medal.

No need to, Bode, because Ted Ligety will make the trip for you. Up and comer Ligety, aka "Ligety Split", blew away the field with a sizzling second run to bring home the first Alpine gold for the U.S., making up more than 3 seconds from his slow downhill time.