Call it the old man and the skis.
At 36, after losing all last season to a knee injury, Bode Miller made it back to a World Cup alpine skiing podium for the first time since February 2011 and did it in the giant slalom for the first time since March 2007.
“It kind of surprised me too a little bit,” said U.S. teammate Ted Ligety, the only man whom Miller could not beat Sunday at Beaver Creek, Colo.
That was no surprise, since Ligety has become virtually unbeatable in the two-run event many consider the truest measure of skiing skills.
He became the first to win four straight World Cup GS races since ski legend Alberto Tomba of Italy in 1991. And Ligety did it with the kind of utter dominance that has made his victories even more impressive.
The 29-year-old from Park City, Utah, was first in both runs and had a winning margin of 1.32 seconds. Ligety has won 10 of his last 13 giant slaloms – including one of his two straight world titles – dating to March 2012.
“I have been watching Ted ski the best GS in the world now for a bunch of years, and it’s something I wanted to get back into,” Miller said. “Fitness has always been a problem, the knee has always been a problem.”
Miller’s knee issues not only had sidelined him last year but also limited him to just six races in the 2011-12 season, which he ended in February 2012.
Rehabbing from surgery to repair the knee damage also gave him the chance to rework his whole body. The Miller who was second in both runs Sunday has pared about 10 pounds and made himself significantly more pliable physically. He appears a lock to make a fourth Olympics.
“I knew after the first run it was unlikely to beat Ted,” said Miller, 2010 Olympic champion in the combined. “He is a really clutch performer in those situations.
“When I got to the finish line, I wanted him to know I was coming for him. There was no coasting.”
Ligety, 2006 Olympic champion in the combined, and Miller became the first U.S. skiers on a World Cup giant slalom podium together since Miller and Daron Rahlves finished 1-2 at Beaver Creek in December 2005.
“It’s cool to have another American up there challenging me,” Ligety said.
And it was also a good day for another U.S. skier on the comeback trail after a knee injury.
At Lake Louise, Alberta, reigning Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn finished fifth in Sunday’s Super-G, meaning she had showed improved confidence and results in her first three races since needing reconstructive knee surgery last February. She finished the Super-G .95 seconds behind Lara Gut of Switzerland, who has won four of this season’s eight World Cup races.
“This is exactly what I wanted to take away from this weekend – to know that I could ski for the win,” Vonn said.
Vonn was a tentative 40th in Friday’s downhill but 11th in the same event Saturday on the hill where she had won seven straight races coming into this season. Now the World Cup circuit moves to trickier hills in Europe, and she may skip some events to concentrate on getting fit for February’s Olympics.
“I’m going to be selective in my races this season,” she said. “I’ll take a few days at home, talk to the coaches and determine a plan.”
