Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) held onto his lead in the World Cup giant slalom points Saturday although he failed to finish his second run. Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) was 18th while the victory went to Austrian Beni Raich.

Raich's winning time was 2:23.54 with Massimiliano Blardone of Italy, bidding for his first win, was the first-run leader but had to settle for second in 2:23.24. Spencer's two-run time was 2:24.76 while Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) was.03 away from qualifying for the second run.

Miller, third in the first run, was leading the season's fifth GS by.7 at the last split when he crashed out in the final section. He leads with 340 points in GS while his nearest competitor, Finn Kalle Palander, failed to reach the second run, while Frenchman Frederic Covili, third before the race at 190 points, did not race because he suffered a knee injury in Alta Badia and is done for the season.

"Bode was close, maybe 10 gates from the finish" SL/GS Head Coach Mike Morin said. "The level of GS has come up so much since Soelden [season's first race Oct. 26], so Bode was laying it out there, going for it, but he went down on a hip and that was it. He knew he had to gun it."

Phil McNichol, men's head coach, agreed. "It was a great day of racing, and Mike's right - there's been a surge by the men in GS. Bode had it going in those first races, but the other guys are catching up knew he had to go all-out. Italy's really stepped up – they had six guys in the second run, and Norway, too - they had three guys top-10 today.

"Dane had two big mistakes on his second run but he's clearly skiing top-10, top 15, and when he's top 10 in that first run instead of taking advantage of an early start on the second run, he'll really move up. 'D' [Rahlves] had a mistake on the upper flat and still almost made it into the second run; he's close."

Rahlves suffered a knee injury in the final training run in Bormio, Italy, when he struck a control gate with his right knee, but it turned out to be only badly bruised.

World Cup leader Hermann Maier, who grew up in Flachau, disappointed the tens of thousands who watched the race when he made a big mistake at the bottom of the first run and failed to make the top-30 cutoff.

MEN'S ALPINE WORLD CUP
Men's Giant Slalom

1. Beni Raich, Austria, 2:22.54
2. Massimiliano Blardone, Italy, 2:23.24
3. Bjarne Solbakken, Norway, 2:23.36
4. Christoph Gruber, Austria, 2:23.46
5. Lasse Kjus, Norway, 2:23.47

18. Dane Spencer, Boise, Idaho, 2:24.76

DNF-2: Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H.
Did not qualify for 2nd run: Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif.

— Courtesy of US Ski Team