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Bode
Miller remains optimistic.
By Patrick Lang
Flachau could have been a comeback
weekend for Bode Miller – instead
it was almost a nightmare for the
skier from New Hampshire who failed
to finish both technical races after
showing some great skiing. Yet the
double World Champion wants to remain
optimistic for the coming weeks because
he remains pleased by his form. The
next races in Chamonix where two downhill
races, a slalom and the first combined
of the season are planned could be
decisive for his chances in the overall
World Cup standings. No doubt that
Bode will fight as hard as usual in
France in the coming weekend!
Bode, how is life after your tough
weekend in Flachau?
B.M. “It’s good - obviously
this weekend was not what I hoped
for. I feel that I had a chance winning
both these races in Flachau yet instead
of winning I got no points at all.
The skiing was good I think. My GS
was definitely good. The slalom -
I did not make it so far. The balance
feels much better in training and
the warm-up stuff. I felt much better
than in the past. I think things are
moving in the right direction anyway.
It’s just a continuation of the
poor luck and poor breaks that I’m
getting this years but I straighten
it out!”
You seemed to have found a great rhythm
both in GS and slalom?
B.M. “Yes, that’s what I’m
saying. That’s something that’s
positive though. It doesn’t make
it more frustrating. It would be more
frustrating if you ski badly and then
you blow out. If you’re skiing
well, then obviously what you’re
trying to do, so that’s a success
in itself even you’re not making
it to the finish line. It’s still
great to be skiing so well.
What was going through you mind after
your DNF’s?
B.M. “Not too much! I mean -
for me, it’s pretty easy. I don’t
treat the two very differently - between
having a good race and a day like
Saturday or Sunday. The difference
between me winning that GS race or
me having no point was just that one
turn. Would I have passed that turn,
the chances were great that I would
have made it to the finish and ended
1st or 2nd depending how fast I was
at the bottom!”
“So it’s really a small
difference for me. To say if it’s
bad weekend or a good weekend the
difference is very small. For me it
was a just good weekend!”
Obviously you’re in good shape
and you remain motivated and confident?
B.M. “Yes, I just feel that the
skiing is good, I’m healthy and
I feel strong so I have good confidence,
it’s just if the results don’t
come, you know, there is nothing you
can do about that except keep trying
to get them. I got good results in
the past, so at least I have confidence
in that, it’s a matter of getting
to the finish line mostly”.
You’re known to be stubborn
so you keep on fighting and believing
you can make it?
B.M. “Yea, yea, definitely, I
don’t quit very easily; so I
keep going until I make it!”
Any thoughts on the World Cup or
are you more focused on your skiing?
B.M. “Well, right now it’s
hard to say, I’m way behind in
the overall rankings, I had no success
except in giant slalom, you know,
unless I turn it around and started
to ski very well in slalom and finishing
in giant slalom and skiing well in
speed then I have no chance in the
overall, I mean, that’s just
the way it goes. It’s not really
a matter of thinking about the overall
as so much a matter just trying to
ski well in all four events”.
You really had some bad luck so far
– look at Beaver Creek, you could
have won that downhill and then everything
would have been different?
B.M. “Yes, exactly, and you never
now what that one win would have done
to the rest of the events either.
Or that pair of skis that I broke
there or in Park City, I was next
to the finish line in the slalom when
I skied out I would have been in the
top-10 there and who knows what that
would have changed? That’s skiing
you can only guess about that stuff!”
You already fought your way back after
some tough years in the past –
is this helping you now?
B.M. “Yes, it has always been
the same. It’s frustrating when
you don’t make it to the finish
line but all you can do it keep trying
to do it – there is no other
option. When you don’t make it
to the finish line you can either
quit or you keep going! It’s
pretty easy to decide which one of
those I’m going to do!
PL
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