Reigning giant slalom world and World Cup champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) collected the 13th victory of his career Sunday in Soelden, Austria - duplicating his season-opening victory from the 2004 season, again by more than a second, on the Rettenbach Glacier. He had the following comments in the finish area...

USSA: You led the first run, then added to it in the second run. Talk about it, please?

Miller: First run I ran in the perfect position - I ran fifth - so I had a good course report. I knew there were no tricky parts, so I skied the top aggressively and then was mellow the rest of the way.

I knew it was gonna be tough, though. I've raced here before and been the leader or the top two or three the last couple of years, and I knew it would be dark at the bottom, so I had to be ready coming down that pitch. And it was a survival second run. With a second lead, I wasn't concerned about winning that second run but I couldn't sit back. The course keeps coming at you and I had a couple of trouble spots, almost went down. I got going too fast and once you're going too fast, you can get out of control. Again, though, you can't back off too much because this course'll bite you.

USSA: Having won in Soelden a year ago, did you think you could win?

Miller: It's similar to last year. Last year I was more than a second ahead. This hill's suited to me a bit. It's not that I'm gonna win 'em all by a second, but on a hill that's suited to me and I ski really well a second is what I hope to be ahead. It's great.

USSA: Even with adjustments to new equipment [Atomics], were you confident?

Miller: I knew the way I was skiing coming into the race. Last year, I also knew. I won the Austrian time trial and had good confidence, but I'd never won here. This year, coming in, I knew the hill. I knew it suited me well and I knew if I skied the way I should ski I could win by a big margin and not 'just' win.

USSA: This hill suits you?

Miller: There's really not a better hill on the World Cup - this hill and Park City [no longer hosting World Cup races] are the two that are the best for me...really flat to really steep breakovers, and that's where my ability to balance back on the skis and forward on the skis makes a big difference in the time.

USSA: You led the first run. What was the concern on your second run?

Miller: Today I didn't take too much risk. I managed it pretty well and still had some problems in the second run, so if I'm ahead by that much with those kind of tactics and those mistakes, it can't be better.

— Courtesy of US Ski Team