LAKE LOUISE, Canada, 29 November 2004 — Bode Miller’s time finally came on Saturday when the American claimed his first World Cup downhill win, underlining his determination to finish the season with the overall title.
For six years Miller had been chasing a downhill victory and when the elusive win came it was in devastating style.
The 30th skier out of the start hut, Miller charged down the sun-bathed Olympic course in a time of one minute 42.75 seconds bringing an end to Austrian domination in the Canadian Rockies. The event was moved to Lake Louise from Whistler in 1999 and Austrian downhillers had won every race staged at the Alberta resort. Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz was the only skier to get within a second of the American, crossing in 1:43.72, while Austrian Michael Walchhofer, the downhill world champion and winner here last year, settled for third with 1:43.92.
Slalom Win Completes Kostelic Comeback
In Aspen, Colorado, Janica Kostelic of Croatia completed a stunning Alpine skiing comeback on Saturday, winning the season’s first World Cup slalom after more than a year out of the sport.
Kostelic, 22, who missed the whole of last season through illness and injury, finished in a combined time of one minute 43.7 seconds — more than a second ahead of last season’s overall, giant and slalom champion Anja Paerson of Sweden. In difficult conditions with snow falling heavily, Kostelic, who had several operations on her right knee as well as surgery to remove her thyroid last January, attacked the gates with carefree aggression.
