Miller delivers in giant slalom
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine -- It was a match made, if not in heaven, at least in the rarefied, sun-drenched upper realms of Sugarloaf Mountain, where America's No. 1 ski racer took on the challenger from the nation's premiere ski family.
High noon: Bode Miller vs. Jimmy Cochran, for the giant slalom national championship.
After yesterday's morning run, Cochran, 24, held a slim lead -- .04 seconds -- over the 28-year old Miller, winner of the downhill title last Saturday. But up in the start before the second run, Miller told Cochran to watch out, that he wasn't getting a national title that easily.
''He said he was coming for me," said Cochran, who made a quick pact with Ted Ligety, threatening to tackle Miller and not let him ski. For Cochran's sake, perhaps they should have gone through with it.
Once the horsing around ended, last year's overall world champion put down the fastest run of the day, a light year ahead of the pack, and Miller beat the intimidated Cochran with a two-run total of 2:08.15, to Cochran's 2:09.23.
At the finish, Cochran, son of two-time national champion Bobby Cochran, stood shaking his head.
''That's Bode," he said. ''When Bode wants to win one, he wins it. That's just Bode."
Skiing the afternoon run in the No. 30 spot, just behind Miller, Cochran said he made some mistakes and never quite got comfortable with the rhythm, though his 1:04.36 was enough to hold second place ahead of 13-year veteran Chip Knight (2:09.75 total).
Ligety, the Olympic gold medalist who won his first World Cup giant slalom earlier this month in Korea, placed fourth, saying he made too many errors on the first run, even though his second run was just .03 off Cochran's pace.
But the day belonged to Miller, who picked up his eighth national championship despite a first-run error in which he slipped in one of the gates.
''I was taking risks and still pushing the limits," said Miller, ''the kind of risk where in the first run you're right on the edge of where your equipment and everything can handle it. The second run, you're dealing with soft stuff. If something goes wrong -- you hook an edge or something like that -- it's not the same as the first run."
Miller has raced hundreds of times on the Sugarloaf Narrow Gauge course, and this was another good day for him here.
''On these kind of days, it's really easy to get excited by it," he said. ''The conditions are so great. It's gorgeous out, and we have a team right now that really makes it worthwhile to race one another."
Miller also commented on Cochran's potential as a force on the US Ski Team.
''He's one of those guys, if he gets if figured out in his head, he has the potential to really be dominant on the tech side and probably on the speed side, too," said Miller. ''With his athleticism on his skis, he could really be a guy who's untouchable.
''He just doesn't seem to really be able to put it together to ski even the way he did today on the World Cup as often as he should. He can't figure out where to take risks and where not to."
Looking ahead, Miller says the team is strong despite the many changes and internal battles. His own position may depend on a knee injury he has had to deal with all season.
''We've all been skiing on the team together for a long time," said Miller. ''We know each other. Sometimes you're as fired up as you can possibly be. Other times it helps if you poke each other a little bit. It never really hurts.
''[Cochran] knows there's no ill nature with any of it. We're all just trying to get each other fired up to race hard. We sort of already have the hierarchy of the team figured out. I've known for years those guys were more than capable of beating me, and they've shown it several times."
In the final action of these US Alpine Championships, the women race two runs for the giant slalom title today.
