Swiss skier Janka finished in 1 minute, 17.27 seconds to lead Romed Baumann- one of three Austrians in the leading six - by two-hundredths of a second. Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, who already has a gold and a silver medal here, was a further 0.14 back in third position.

“I was tired today but I gave it a push and I think all of us in the top five have a chance to get to the podium,” Svindal said. “It is going to be a tight race. I am in the hunt for the medals.” Competition was continuing among the lower ranked athletes on the first run. The second run was scheduled for 2100 GMT.

Miller's bid for a record fourth Alpine medal at a single Winter Games was derailed when he couldn't correct his line coming out of a right-hand gate in the second half of his run. He almost crashed out in the top half.

The 32-year-old American won medals in each of the first three men's races, including gold in the super-combined. No man has ever won four Alpine medals at one Olympics and Miller has a final chance in the slalom, scheduled for Saturday.

Janka arrived at the Olympics second in the overall World Cup standings but hasn't lived up to expectations so far at Whistler, where he was 11th in the downhill, eighth in super-G and narrowly missed a medal in the super-combined.

Marcel Hirscher in fifth place and defending champion Benjamin Raich are the other Austrians in the leading six.

Raich is targeting a fifth career Olympic medal, which would make him the most decorated Austrian Olympic Alpine skier in history.

“I am pretty satisfied. I lost a bit of time at the top but at the bottom I had no problem,” said Raich, whose golds in the slalom and giant slalom four years ago were among Austria's 14 Alpine medals at Turin.

The Austrians are behind expectations at 2010 Winter Games, but Raich isn't concerned just yet, saying: “You can't force it.” In speedskating later Tuesday, world record holder Sven Kramer is the overwhelming favorite to win the 10,000 meters and claim his second gold medal of the games.

World champion Kim Yu-na begins the short program in a women's figure skating competition involving two other world champions in Mao Asada and Miki Ando.

Other medals on offer are in biathlon, freestyle skiing and Nordic combined.

The men's hockey competition is down to the knockout stage, with eight teams, including Canada, playing for four spots in the quarterfinals.