On a day where the weather mirrored the mood of weary World Cup racers, the U.S. Ski Team clinched third place in the Nations Cup standings Sunday for the first time since 1983; the men finished third and the women were fourth while Italians won both races. Giorgio Rocca won the men's slalom and Karen Putzer took the final women's GS. Under overcast skies with the temperature in the low 30s, Rocca won the SL in 1:45.44 and Finn Kalle Palander captured the World Cup title, the first Finn to earn an alpine World Cup crown, by finishing second (1:45.85) as he knocked Daron Rahlves, second in DH points, out of the first five overall; it was the first time the U.S. team has had two men in the top 10 since 1982 when Phil Mahre was first and twin Steve was third.

Erik Schlopy preserved third place in the Nations Cup for the Ski Team by two points as he tied for ninth place with Norwegian Truls Ove Karlsen in 1:47.22; any lower and Norway – getting 50 points from Tom Stiansen in fourth place, could have caught or overtaken the U.S. men.

At World Cup Finals, with its smaller field of racers, points are awarded only to the top 15. Chip Knight had problems at the bottom of his second run and finished 16th with Bode Miller, who had three slalom wins a year ago but struggled all winter with SL, was 17th. Finishing third was the top men's result since 1982 when the men also were third.

"It's been such an emotional rollercoaster with our success," said Men's Head Coach Phil McNichol "We've been in Europe for so long, we had to be leading up to Worlds [Feb. 2-16 in St. Moritz, Switzerland] and everybody's pretty spent. We torched ourselves...but we were successful and we met our goals, so it paid off.

"It's been a great year but there's still room for improvement, which is encouraging. These guys can do it," McNichol said.

Schlopy added, "It's been a little of a drag at the end, energy-wise, but in general the season's been awesome. "I'm ready to go to nationals [starting Thursday in Lake Placid, NY], have some fun, wind it down and hang out without any real stress for a few days."

The ninth-place finish equaled his best SL of the season (Wengen in January).

Miller, who finished second overall (coincidentally, with the same total as Putzer – 1,100 points) and second in GS, was called onto the podium during awards presentations. As he walked up with Austrian champ Stephan Eberharter (33) and Norwegian Kjetil Andre Aamodt (31), the 25-year-old looked in mock surprise and asked, "What gives here? I've got to go up with the grandpas, the senior citizens?"

Later, Miller – the only World Cup racerm ale or female, to ski in every race this season – said, "Today was fun. I wouldn't mind a few more races. I'm sort of tired of doing interviews, but I was a little tired of that at the beginning of the season, too, so..."

He made mistakes on the first run that kept him out of challenging and missed a gate and had to hike at the bottom of his final run of the season. Still, he enjoyed the day, Miller said, watching Palander win the title. "There was some good skiing and it was fun to watch, and we held off Norway for third place, so that was nice," he said.

— Courtesy U.S. Ski Team