VAL GARDENA, Italy — If Bode Miller wants to return to ski racing this season as he approaches the age of 40, he’ll have to show Sasha Rearick, the U.S. team coach, that he’s still got the necessary speed.
“There’s always a chance with Bode, always. But at this point right now we’re not expecting a miracle return real quick,” Rearick said Friday.
Still, Rearick would not rule out a return by Miller this season, saying the six-time Olympic medalist could “possibly” race in January.
Miller has won 33 World Cup races but he has never won the famed Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria, which is scheduled for Jan. 21.
While he has not raced since severing his right hamstring tendon in February 2015, Miller might be tempted to return in time for Kitzbuehel. That could enable him to qualify for the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in February.
The U.S. team can start only four skiers in each race at the worlds.
“He’s going to have to qualify for the world championships,” Rearick said. “He would have to show me he’s ready to play or qualify straight up by criteria.”
The 39-year-old Miller did not show much speed during training at Copper Mountain in Colorado last month, trailing several teammates.
“He was not in the mix in those four-five guys, and we were ahead of the Norwegians there,” Rearick said.
The training in Copper was on a 30-second track of about 800 yards, just a fraction of the distance of a full World Cup downhill or super-G.
Miller has not had any race training since Copper, according to Rearick, who added Miller will come to Europe to train next month and then be evaluated.
At the 2015 world championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Miller was leading the super-G after several intervals despite not having raced all season. Then he crashed.
“That was the perfect end to this career – green light, green light, green light and then crash,” Norwegian great Kjetil Andre Aamodt said.
If Miller does return, he’s planning to compete on skis from New York-based brand Bomber, which he helped develop. He has asked a court to void his agreement with previous supplier Head.
Miller ended his nearly 10-year partnership with Head in 2015 and signed an agreement not to wear a different ski brand in World Cup or world championship races for the following two years.
“This is nothing more than a case of corporate oppression against an individual ski racer and our startup ski company, Bomber,” Miller said, according to skiracing.com. “This is my last real chance to race competitively in the World Cup and world championship, and it is disappointing to me that Head is trying to block me from doing that.”
Head racing director Rainer Salzgeber suggested Miller shouldn’t race again.
“It’s better when he doesn’t ski. That’s clear,” Salzgeber said. “It would be nice for the crowd. But his level of skiing in Copper was not there where we want to see Bode.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.