Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) took a first-run lead Saturday and powered his way to a giant slalom victory - his sixth win of the season - to reclaim the World Cup overall lead while Austrian Hermann Maier finished in a tie for 12th. Miller, who also moved back to No. 1 in GS standings, cautioned, "It's not over by any means."

Miller won in 2:13.01 with Italy's Alberto Schieppati second in 2:13.26. The victory, the 12th of his career, gives Miller 1,084 points for the season with seven races left. Maier has 1,076. His third GS victory of the winter, it also put him back in the lead in the giant slalom points as Finn Kalle Palander went out on his first run; Miller leads him by 61 points with one GS remaining.

"It was a good day," Miller said. He didn't hold back on the second run, looking to make certain he had a finish, "because on this hill, you've gotta go. If you don't, you'll be two seconds back of everybody," he said.

Second storm never showed
A storm left a foot of snow Friday and was expected to leave another foot by race time Saturday, but the second part never materialized, so organizers were able to remove most of the soft underfooting. Still, Miller said, conditions were tricky.

"Up top, where they had so much snow and the Sno-cats moved it away, they chewed up the snow and it was soft. There were 'death cookies' [little balls of snow] and it was tough, for sure..."

Running second, he skied consistently to build his lead, he said. "I think I was second, third, maybe fourth in one spot on the different splits, but I was consistent with my skiing. Some guys did well on the top but blew up somewhere," the Carrabassett Valley Academy product said, "but I was consistent top to bottom.

"It was soft on the top and some guys - like [Canadian Thomas] Grandi - do well in soft snow, and he had problems in the hard snow on the bottom [and slid from second after the first run to 10th overall]. Others like it harder...and I was consistent all the way down...

"It almost threw me off with the changing conditions. The bottom snow was hard, pretty aggressive."

Miller, whose sixth victory of the season is the best by a U.S. man since Phil Mahre in 1983, said moving past Maier in the points is good but still doesn't settle the issue. "It doesn't really do anything because there are still seven races and anything still can happen.

Seven races remaining mean nothing's decided
"I've said I thought it was going to go to the end and it will. It's still coming down to the last race. It's nice to be in a position to win - you have to be in that position - but it's not over by any means. Still, I'm glad to be where I am."

"Bode's second run was absolutely punched as hard as he could," said SL/GS Head Coach Mike Morin. "It was really tough - fast and bumpy and he had to go as fast as he could, not just ski his way down safely, because Schieppati put down a blistering run. It was gonna be tough to beat."

He said Miller's attacking style set the stage for his win. "On Bode's first run, he nailed a right-footed delay off the upper section onto the flats and that gave him a lot of speed through the middle section where he created his lead," Morin said.

"Coming onto the bottom pitch - there's a top pitch which is pretty steep, the flats and a bottom pitch which is steep, too, and just keeps coming at you for eight or 10 gates - he didn't back off at all. It ended up being risky because a lot of guys had problems and went out two or three gates from the finish. That's where Palander went out but Bode was right on his game and made it through that final pitch."

Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) was the only other American to qualify for a second run, finishing in a tie for 19th place with Austrian Andreas Schifferer.

World Cup Finals lineup set for GS
Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) failed to make the second run and dropped to 27th in the GS points, knocking him out of World Cup Finals where the top 25 skiers and the world junior champion are invited to race; Europa Cup and Nor Am discipline champions no longer are included. Miller, Rahlves - as a 400-points skier - and world junior champion Jeff Harrison (Steilacoom, WA) will represent the U.S. in GS at Finals.

Morin credited organizers with "doing a great job in preparing the course" following a foot of snow Friday that created soft underfooting. But with the second storm never arriving, hill crews had time to finish the course prep, Morin said.

"The surface ended up being really, really good. They pushed all the snow off to the side," he said, "and it was a lot better than most people expected."

The men run the next-to-last slalom Sunday and then head to Kvitfjell, Norway, for a downhill and super G. World Cup Finals will be March 10-14 in Sestriere, Italy.

MEN'S ALPINE WORLD CUP
Men's Giant Slalom

1. Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H., 2:13.01
2. Alberto Schiepatti, Italy, 2:13.26
3. (tie) Fredrik Nyberg, Sweden, and Alexander Ploner, Italy, 2:13.61 each
5. Freddy Rech, France, 2:13.75

19T. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 2:14.91

Did not qualify for 2nd run: Dane Spencer, Boise, Idaho; Jesse Marshall, Pittsfield, Vt.; Jeff Harrison, Steilacoom, Wash.; Jake Zamansky, Aspen, Colo.

DNF-1: Ted Ligety, Park City, Utah

— Courtesy of US Ski Team