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Miller Ties for 2nd in Hahnenkamm
KITZBUEHEL, Austria (Jan. 19) - Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, NH) survived a wild turn up top and then nailed the bottom of the fabled Streif speed run Saturday to finish in a tie for second place in the 68th Hahnenkamm downhill. Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) was sixth as Didier Cuche of Switzerland, already the DH leader, won to take the overall points lead, too.
High winds at the top of the course convinced organizers to lower the start by about 100 meters, dropping it below the Mausfalle, the first major jump on the Streif.
Cuche covered the 3.2K course in 1:52.75. Miller and Austrian Mario Scheiber each finished in 1:53.02 with fellow Austrian Michael Walchhofer another 0.01 back. Sullivan, who was 10th Friday in a super G, was timed in 1:53.45.
Steven Nyman (Provo, UT) was 19th and Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), looking to set himself up for Sunday's slalom, which will be used to compute a traditional combined, i.e., a downhill and two slalom runs, was 43rd.
Macartney Crashed, Prognosis Good
Two-time Olympian Scott Macartney (Crystal Mountain, WA), who turned 30 Saturday, finished 33rd although he crashed coming off the final jump. He was transported by helicopter to a Kitzbuehel hospital where he was stabilized, then flown to Innsbruck where his injuries were being evaluated.
Dr. Charles Rich, U.S. Team Ski Team neurosurgeon who accompanied him from the mountain to the hospital in Innsbruck, said Saturday night Macartney had a very good prognosis. He suffered a severe concussion and will remain in the hospital for further observaton, the doctor said.
"I'm satisfied with my run, but my thoughts really were with Scott. I saw his crash on TV at the start before I went and I was definitely a little distracted," said Sullivan, who was one of Macartney's teammates on each of the last two Olympic Teams. "I know I could ski well but I was just worried for him. I had a solid run and I'm definitely happy with sixth. My goal this month was to be top-10 in every race and so far I'm on track."
He was seventh in the 78th Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 13 before his two top-10s here. Still to go: another downhill next weekend in Chamonix, France. Through 22 races, Cuche leads with 765 points with Austrian Benjamin Raich at 744 and Miller third with 713; Ligety is sixth overall.
Sullivan in "the zone"
"Physically, I feel really good right now. It's funny how - when you're in 'the zone' - everything clicks. When you're not in that place, you're trying everything you can to make things happen. Today, I just kind of skied because I was thinking about Mac, but I'm skiing so well I still came in sixth."
A brief rain during the night and warm weather softened the top layer of snow, "but that was pretty well scraped off during inspection," Sullivan said. "It turned out to be a hard, grippy surface. It was good."
The men face two slaloms over the next three days - Sunday in Kitzbuehel, part of the weekend's combined calculation, and then Tuesday night in Schladming, Austria, one of the most high-energy events on the calendar every season
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Miller Ties for 2nd in Hahnenkamm
