WHISTLER, British Columbia – Bode Miller’s bid for Olympic history ended early Saturday when he skied off the course just 8 seconds into his final event.
The 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., trying to become the first man to win four Alpine medals in the same Olympics, straddled the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom on a fog-shrouded, snowy day.
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He stood by the side of the course looking mystified by his mistake.
”I just hooked a tip and it’s obviously disappointing when you’re fired up and you’re skiing well and everything’s there,” Miller said. ”You go out of the gate with the intention of absolutely maximizing every turn.”
Miller is one of only five men to get three Alpine medals at a Games, a record performance for a U.S. skier.
He won gold in the super-combined, silver in the super-G and bronze in downhill.
His five career medals are tied for second on the all-time men’s list behind Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway, who has eight.
Miller had not won a two-leg slalom race on the World Cup circuit since December 2004, but showed excellent form last Sunday in the slalom portion of the super-combined to take his first Olympic title.
But his run Saturday ended after only 50 meters, still in sight of the start house.
”It was over before I even had much chance to know what my skis were doing on that snow,” Miller said. ”I wasn’t pivoting, I wasn’t sliding the ski at all. That’s a little bit indicative of my lack of time on slalom skiing, because I might have known that my skis would do that if I’d had more training.”
Miller fell behind in his fitness and slalom training after contemplating retirement and waiting until September to return for the Olympic season.
His preparations were set back further when he had knee surgery last October and injured his right ankle in December while playing volleyball.
Miller was one of the 10 men in the top-30 ranked skiers who didn’t finish in difficult conditions for racing. Only 54 of 102 started completed the first run.
”It’s the Olympics and we knew it was going to be challenging, and we knew it was going to be tough and everyone’s skiing 100 percent,” Miller said.
Persistent wet snow forced race organizers to spread chemicals on the course to create a solid racing surface.
Several racers, including the world champion, Manfred Pranger, were launched into the air and crashed out coming over a small compression midway through their run.
The Dave Murray course at Whistler is staging its sixth race of the games.
It was also used for the women’s slalom Friday.
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