Bode Miller wins again, captures downhill title

Kirsten Clark won the women's downill crown.
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (AP) -- Bode Miller won the U.S. Alpine Championship downhill title Saturday on the same slope where he qualified for the national ski team 10 years ago.
Miller tore down the Narrow Guage course in 1 minute, 15.27 seconds to complete his sweep of national titles in every discipline. Daron Rahlves was runner-up in 1:15.88. Justin Johnson placed third in 1:16.14.
"I'm not very sentimental about anything," Miller said with a wide smile after collecting his seventh national titles over 10 years. "I haven't been back here in nine years. It's the first time since our nationals here when I made the team in '96. Then there were nationals the next year, too, and that was the last time [I was here].
"It's not so different."
Miller first made the U.S. team at the 1996 Championships when he finished third in slalom here while attending nearby Carrabassett Valley Academy. Last season, he became the first American in 22 years to win the World Cup overall title.
Women
Kirsten Clark, another CVA alum who grew up racing at Sugarloaf, won the women's downhill title.
Clark, from Raymond, Maine, clocked 1:19.65 to finish .49 ahead of Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso.
"I was in the start and there was a crew of kids yelling 'Kirsten! Kirsten!' and it's just so much fun to race at home where I grew up," said the 28-year-old Clark, who also has seven national titles. Clark had struggled all season after routine knee surgery last autumn led to a grave infection that set her back.
Stacey Cook placed third in 1:20.22 despite having to restart. Cook was flagged off the bumpy course midway through her first attempt when Lindsey Kildow crashed further down ahead of her. Kildow was uninjured.
Miller compared the slope to a World Cup hill.
"This hill is not as challenging as a World Cup hill but they could set it difficult, really difficult," Miller said. "The only thing it's really lacking is the air ... but it's fine with me. I hate jumps right now. My knee hurts so bad."
Miller has severe pain in his left knee since injuring it on a jump in the Beaver Creek downhill earlier this season.
He has wavered during the last couple of seasons over whether to continue ski racing and his ability to rehabilitate his knee this summer could affect his future plans.
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