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Friday, November 10, 2006
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After failing to earn a medal at the Turin Olympics, Bode Miller hopes to regain the form that enabled him to win the overall World Cup title in 2004-05.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Which Bode Miller will show up this season?
The outspoken Miller will be hoping to rebound from a less-than-stellar season and compete with Benjamin Raich, the defending overall World Cup champion.
The World Cup season opens this weekend with slalom races in Levi, Finland. The season was originally scheduled to begin two weeks ago in Soelden, Austria, but the races were canceled because of rain and warm weather.
After winning the overall World Cup title in 2004-05, Miller went to the Turin Olympics hoping to medal in all five events, but left Italy with none.
"Everyone who knows Bode from 2004-05 can see he was different in '05-06," said Miller's agent, Lowell Taub. "I think the Bode of '06-07 is a content, focused athlete who's going out there and competing because he loves it."
Raich, the Olympic slalom champion, won last year's overall title by more than 400 points. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was second, followed by Miller.
This season, Raich will be focusing more on the downhill.
"I have three years' experience in the downhill at this point and I want to use that," Raich said. "I'm still targeting the overall title but I have a lot of goals this year."
In February, Miller will go into the world championships in Are, Sweden, as the defending downhill and super-G champion.
Miller leads a strong United States team, with Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety and giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso.
"This is one of our strongest teams in terms of talent and depth," U.S. Alpine director Jesse Hunt said.
Daron Rahlves, the United States' all-time best downhiller, retired after finishing fourth in the overall standings last season. He also was the 2001 super-G world champion and a double medalist at the 2005 worlds.
"Having (Rahlves) move on presents a challenge, but I'm confident we have the talent to help fill that gap," Hunt said. "One of our goals this season is to get closer to Austria in the Nations Cup."
The United States finished second in the Nations Cup the last two seasons.
On the women's side, Anja Paerson will have to find some new competition.
Paerson, the two-time overall champion from Sweden who finished second last season behind Janica Kostelic, is favored this season because Kostelic is taking a year off and Michaela Dorfmeister has retired.
Paerson expects tough competition even without Kostelic, the most successful female Alpine skier in Olympic history.
"Last season was one of the most even, when no skier won a lot of races," said Paerson, who beat Kostelic by three points in 2004-05. "This season I think there will be even better quality."
Kostelic announced last month that she will skip this season because of chronic back and knee pain.
"We will miss her because she will always mean a lot for the World Cup," said Paerson, who skied with pain in her left knee last season. "The sport will miss a big name."
Paerson had surgery on her knee after the World Cup finals and returned to skiing in July.
The U.S. women's team is headed by a pair of 22-year-olds, Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow. Kirsten Clark, 29, of Raymond, Maine, is back for her 13th World Cup season.
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