Ligety, not Miller, wins gold

Bode Miller was disqualified for straddling a gate.
SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) -- Young Ted Ligety gave the United States the Olympic gold medal that Bode Miller couldn't deliver Tuesday, uncorking two dynamic slalom runs to win the men's combined and break the Americans' bad luck in Alpine skiing.
The 21-year-old skier from Park City, Utah, in his first Olympics, had a combined time of 3 minutes, 9.35 seconds for the downhill and two slalom runs.
Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won the silver medal, 53-hundredths of a second behind the American at 3:09.88. Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria captured the bronze at 3:10.67.
Austrian favorite Benjamin Raich, the leader going into the final slalom run, skied off course, setting off a red-white-and-blue celebration at the finish area.
"It's incredible," Ligety said. "I can't believe it [happened] in combined because I'm not very good in downhill."
Finish wish
He said it would have been even better if Raich had finished.
"I would prefer to win standing up to him," Ligety said.
U.S. skiers Steven Nyman and Scott Macartney tackled Ligety, and the three teammates rolled in the snow together. They rose, and Ligety waved an American flag while he was propped on the others' shoulders.
"I'm not surprised he's on the podium," U.S. men's coach Phil McNichol said. "I'm a bit surprised he won gold."
It was only the fourth Olympic Alpine gold medal ever for U.S. men.
Ligety burst onto the world scene with two thirds and a second in this, his second World Cup season, and it seemed only a question of when, not if he would be a winner.
It couldn't have come at a better time for the frustrated Americans.
"It's a great day, especially with Bode skiing out," Macartney said. "Ted stepped up."
"You've just got to get in the starting gate and throw down whatever you've got," Ligety said.
What he had was two near-flawless slalom runs -- the night's fastest at 43.84 seconds in his clinching second run and 44.09 seconds in the first, .01 slower than the best time of that leg.
Attacks steep part
On the final run, he attacked the steep part of the course at the start but gained most of his time with a sweep through the middle section, dashing between gates with a perfect aggressive rhythm.
Miller was disqualified for straddling a gate in the first run, just when he seemed to have built a commanding lead for his elusive first Olympic gold medal.
The disqualification gave the lead temporarily to Raich, who had trailed Miller by nearly a second.
The U.S. team decided not to protest.
"We looked at it enough times," said program director Jesse Hunt. "We're satisfied."
Miller was nonchalant.
"I've straddled probably more times than most people have finished the slalom," he told reporters at the bottom of the run.
Indeed, the often-reckless American failed to finish five of seven slaloms on the World Cup circuit this season.
"If it's clear, it's clear," Miller said.
That left U.S. hopes to Ligety, who was 32nd after the downhill, 3.06 seconds behind Miller, and third after the first slalom run, 86-hundredths of a second behind Raich.
"Teddy will save the day," McNichol said.
He did, and he picked up his more famous teammate in the process.
The styles
Like a cowboy riding a wild horse, Miller was a sharp contrast to the smooth, swivel-hipped style of Raich in a classic U.S.-Austrian showdown on a cloud-shrouded evening in the Italian Alps.
About three-quarters of the way through the first of two evening slalom runs -- on the 42nd of 56 gates -- Miller pinned a red gate with his left ski and the post popped up between his feet.
"I came down and the run felt fine," Miller said. "I had no idea I had straddled. ... I was in the recovery room already getting ready for the second run when I heard it on the radio and I looked at the replay."
By his own assessment, Miller was not as wild as he usually is.
"I wasn't so much conservative as just bad," he said.
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