SASTRIERE, Italy – Bad boy skier Bode Miller went bust in his first race here yesterday.
The magazine cover boy finished fifth in the men’s downhill, failing to overcome a slow start. Antoine Deneriaz of France took the gold medal. Miller has been the center of attention during the Olympic buildup, posing shirtless and running off at the mouth. The 28-year-old will compete four more times, the next time coming tomorrow in the combined, in which he took silver at Salt Lake City in 2002.
“Obviously you come in to race at your best,” Miller said. “I think maybe I didn’t race at 100 percent of my best today, but I wasn’t far off. I was super happy with my effort. When I was standing in the gate I knew I was going to ski 100 percent. I came out of the gate firing and didn’t stop until the finish, so I’m happy with it.”
Miller’s time of 1:49.94 was one full second behind Deneriaz’s winning time of 1:48.80.
“There were a couple spots where I got bumped up a little bit off balance in the air and two turns where I couldn’t find a clear edge and that’s the difference of being fifth and being second,” Miller said. “But it would have taken a hurricane wind to get me into first, the way Deneriaz skied he was pretty much untouchable.”
The day was a total wash for the Americans. Daron Rahlves, considered by many the favorite in the downhill, finished a disappointing 10th. The other Americans, Scott Macartney and Steve Nyman, finished 15th and 19th, respectively.
“I’m kind of surprised,” Rahlves said. “I’m really relaxed right now. I figure I went out and did my best and this is how it turned out. I did everything possible coming into today and I felt good about it. Looking back there’s nothing I would have changed.”
While Rahlves may have been favored, all eyes were on Miller, whose bluster gave life to these Games in recent months. After starting out of the gate slowly yesterday, he made up time on the two jumps, but not enough.
Austrian Michael Walchofer won silver and Bruno Kernen of Switzerland got the bronze. Austrian skiing legend Herman “The Hermanator” Maier finished sixth.
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Yesterday’s Medalists
Medals Table (after 12 medal events)
ALPINE SKIING
Men’s Downhill
GOLD: Antoine Deneriaz, France
SILVER: Michael Walchhofer, Austria
BRONZE: Bruno Kernen, Switzerland
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
Women’s 15km Pursuit
GOLD: Kristina Smigun, Estonia
SILVER: Katerina Neumannova, Czech Republic
BRONZE: Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova, Russia
Men’s 30km Pursuit
GOLD: Eugeni Dementiev, Russia
SILVER: Frode Estil, Norway
BRONZE: Pietro Piller Cottrer, Italy
LUGE
Men’s Singles
GOLD: Armin Zoeggeler, Italy
SILVER: Albert Demtschenko, Russia
BRONZE: Martins Rubenis, Latvia
SHORT TRACK SPEEDSKATING
Men’s 1500
GOLD: Ahn Hyun-Soo, South Korea
SILVER: Lee Ho-Suk, South Korea
BRONZE: Li JiaJun, China
SKI JUMPING
K90 Hill
GOLD: Lars Bystoel, Norway
SILVER: Matti Hautamaeki, Finland
BRONZE: Roar Ljoekelsoey, Norway
SNOWBOARDING
Men’s Halfpipe
GOLD: Shaun White, Carlsbad, Calif.
SILVER: Daniel Kass, Portland, Maine
BRONZE: Markku Koski, Finland
SPEEDSKATING
Women’s 3000
GOLD: Ireen Wust, Netherlands
SILVER: Renate Groenewold, Netherlands
BRONZE: Cindy Klassen, Canada
***
Nation G S B Tot
Norway 1 3 3 7
United States 2 1 0 3
Netherlands 1 2 0 3
Russia 1 1 1 3
Italy 1 0 2 3
Germany 2 0 0 2
South Korea 1 1 0 2
Canada 1 0 1 2
France 1 0 1 2
Austria 0 2 0 2
Finland 0 1 1 2
Estonia 1 0 0 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1
China 0 0 1 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1
Switzerland 0 0 1 1
