Bode Miller wins bronze in downhill

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Bode Miller seemed oddly silent riding the lift to the mountaintop alongside U.S. teammate Marco Sullivan for Monday’s Olympic downhill.

“I don’t think we said a word to each other,” Sullivan said.

Later, hanging out in the athletes’ lounge as race time approached, other skiers were surprised by Miller’s mood, too.

“It was fascinating,” said Liechtenstein’s Marco Buechel, who is at his sixth Winter Games and has known Miller for years. “He said he was nervous. I’m like, ‘What?! Nervous? You? I never saw you like that.”’

One never knows what to expect from the ever-enigmatic Miller, on the slopes or off. As a favorite four years ago in Turin, he flopped. As something of an afterthought this time around, he flourished. With a controlled run down a choppy slope Monday, Miller won the downhill bronze behind Switzerland’s Didier Defago and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal at the Vancouver Games for his U.S.-record third career Olympic Alpine medal.

At the last Winter Games, Miller said Monday, “I wasn’t emotionally very involved in the races. I was treating them very cold and clinical.” Now, in contrast, “I let myself go more.”

Maybe it’s because he considered retiring six months ago. Maybe it’s because he’s the father of a toddler. Maybe it’s because there is less attention, fewer sponsor commitments, not as much “minutiae,” as Miller called it.

Asked what’s changed most about him since 2006, Miller replied: “It doesn’t feel like anything. I’m pretty steady, actually. I’ve been about the same since as long as I can remember.”

Had the 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., won, he would have been the oldest Olympic men’s downhill champion. Instead, that honor went to Defago, also 32 but, unlike Miller, never before a medalist at an Olympics or world championships.

By zipping down the course in 1 minute, 54.31 seconds, Defago claimed his country’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s Alpine skiing since 1988. Pumping his arms in the air after completing the run, Defago nearly tumbled backward over the padding that lines the finish area.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” Defago said.

Not everyone did. The guy even had to earn a spot on the Swiss downhill roster at Whistler with a good training run last week.

The opening Alpine race of these Olympics originally was scheduled for Saturday, but was delayed because of snow, rain and too-warm temperatures that made for a messy mountain. Cold, dry weather overnight allowed the slope to freeze.

“The conditions were perfect for me,” Defago said. “I knew I would do well, but I never expected to do this well.”

After the postrace flower ceremony, after the doping test, after the news conference and other interviews, Miller headed down the mountain.

Another race comes today, the super-combined, and he once again is a part of any conversation about contenders.

Miller refused to call Monday’s result redemption.

The record book forever will call it a bronze.