KIDWCKED
02-15-2010, 09:13 PM
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ESPN.com news services
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- American Bode Miller won't win the Olympic men's downhill. But he will be on the medals podium.
Switzerland's Didier Defago, who clocked a time of 1:54.31, won the gold medal Monday on the Dave Murray course at Whistler Creekside. Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won the silver. Miller, famously shut out of the medals four years ago in Torino, took home the bronze.
Miller's run was on the edge, but fell .09 short of the gold medal.
Miller, starting eighth, took the early lead with a time of 1:54.40, but he was eventually topped by Svindal and then Defago, who was the 18th starter out of the gates.
Defago, a 32-year-old veteran, is the first Swiss man to win an Olympic medal since Pirmin Zurbriggen at the 1988 Calgary Games. He was mistake-free in navigating the 3,105-meter course on Monday, which was the delayed opening event of the alpine skiing competition.
At 32 years and 4 months, Defago became the oldest man to win the Olympic downhill, three months older than Frenchman Jean-Luc Cretier when he won at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Svindal, the defending overall World Cup champion, was the first to edge Miller, beating him by .02. Svindal's time was 1:54.38.
"I was super nervous all morning. There was no question the excitement's there," Miller told CTV in Canada before his third-place finish was official. "Generally, if you want to get the best performance out of yourself, you kind of have to downplay that excitement in your own head and perform like it's a normal World Cup. You execute your tactics real well, and if you get all riled up and let yourself get over-excited and super nervous, especially at my age, you'd probably have a heart attack.
"I wanted to let it go. I was definitely fired up. I went out of the start like I wanted to win this thing. This is a unique opportunity to feed off the crowd's energy and all the energy around the whole Games. I'm gonna keep doing it and hopefully I'll make less mistakes, and if I make less mistakes, I'm gonna be on top.
"[Today's result] doesn't really change much about how I feel about the races coming up except that I know I'm gonna be fired up and going for the win."
Miller won two silver medals eight years ago in Salt Lake City. The poster child for American skiing in Torino, he failed to medal.
Austria's Mario Scheiber made a run at Miller, making up time on the bottom part of the course, but finished .12 behind him in 1:54.52. Scheiber started 15th. Scheiber has a second and a fourth in World Cup downhills this year.
Canada's Erik Guay, starting right behind Miller, finished in 1:54.64.
American Steven Nyman finished in 1:55.71, while teammate Andrew Weibrecht finished in 1:55.74.
Marco Sullivan, the fourth American on the course, crashed but eventually finished in 2:07.76. He was more than 13 seconds behind the leaders.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche, who lead the World Cup downhill standings heading into the Games, finished in 1:54.62. Teammate Carlo Janka, second in the World Cup downhill standings heading into the Games, finished in 1:55.02.
After two days of delay, the alpine program finally began at Whistler Creekside. Temperatures were in the upper 20s as the competition got under way at 10:30 a.m. PT.
Conditions were still overcast Monday but the temperature fell below freezing overnight, making the course hard enough for skiers to dig their edges in and maintain control at speeds up to nearly 75 mph.
Flat and dim light created some visibility problems, although there was none of the mid-mountain fog that has plagued the Alpine venue the past several days.
ESPN.com news services
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- American Bode Miller won't win the Olympic men's downhill. But he will be on the medals podium.
Switzerland's Didier Defago, who clocked a time of 1:54.31, won the gold medal Monday on the Dave Murray course at Whistler Creekside. Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won the silver. Miller, famously shut out of the medals four years ago in Torino, took home the bronze.
Miller's run was on the edge, but fell .09 short of the gold medal.
Miller, starting eighth, took the early lead with a time of 1:54.40, but he was eventually topped by Svindal and then Defago, who was the 18th starter out of the gates.
Defago, a 32-year-old veteran, is the first Swiss man to win an Olympic medal since Pirmin Zurbriggen at the 1988 Calgary Games. He was mistake-free in navigating the 3,105-meter course on Monday, which was the delayed opening event of the alpine skiing competition.
At 32 years and 4 months, Defago became the oldest man to win the Olympic downhill, three months older than Frenchman Jean-Luc Cretier when he won at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Svindal, the defending overall World Cup champion, was the first to edge Miller, beating him by .02. Svindal's time was 1:54.38.
"I was super nervous all morning. There was no question the excitement's there," Miller told CTV in Canada before his third-place finish was official. "Generally, if you want to get the best performance out of yourself, you kind of have to downplay that excitement in your own head and perform like it's a normal World Cup. You execute your tactics real well, and if you get all riled up and let yourself get over-excited and super nervous, especially at my age, you'd probably have a heart attack.
"I wanted to let it go. I was definitely fired up. I went out of the start like I wanted to win this thing. This is a unique opportunity to feed off the crowd's energy and all the energy around the whole Games. I'm gonna keep doing it and hopefully I'll make less mistakes, and if I make less mistakes, I'm gonna be on top.
"[Today's result] doesn't really change much about how I feel about the races coming up except that I know I'm gonna be fired up and going for the win."
Miller won two silver medals eight years ago in Salt Lake City. The poster child for American skiing in Torino, he failed to medal.
Austria's Mario Scheiber made a run at Miller, making up time on the bottom part of the course, but finished .12 behind him in 1:54.52. Scheiber started 15th. Scheiber has a second and a fourth in World Cup downhills this year.
Canada's Erik Guay, starting right behind Miller, finished in 1:54.64.
American Steven Nyman finished in 1:55.71, while teammate Andrew Weibrecht finished in 1:55.74.
Marco Sullivan, the fourth American on the course, crashed but eventually finished in 2:07.76. He was more than 13 seconds behind the leaders.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche, who lead the World Cup downhill standings heading into the Games, finished in 1:54.62. Teammate Carlo Janka, second in the World Cup downhill standings heading into the Games, finished in 1:55.02.
After two days of delay, the alpine program finally began at Whistler Creekside. Temperatures were in the upper 20s as the competition got under way at 10:30 a.m. PT.
Conditions were still overcast Monday but the temperature fell below freezing overnight, making the course hard enough for skiers to dig their edges in and maintain control at speeds up to nearly 75 mph.
Flat and dim light created some visibility problems, although there was none of the mid-mountain fog that has plagued the Alpine venue the past several days.