Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was looking to clean up some mistakes as he went for his third World Cup in eight days Sunday, but, despite leading the first run, he missed a gate during his second run in a World Cup giant slalom won by Frederic Covili of France. Thomas Vonn (Newburgh, NY) was the only U.S. racer to score, setting a personal best mark by finishing 14th.

Covili, who also won the opening GS of the season in late October, had a two-run time of 2:40.58 to edge out Swiss great Michael Von Gruenigen by .02 with Sami Uotila of Finland stepping onto his first podium as he finished third (2:40.67).

Miller led the first run by four-hundredths of a second but as he headed back to the top of the course for the final run, he said he had made a couple of mistakes and planned to clean them up during his final run. However, skiing aggressively from the start, he skied off course on the top section of the course.

Vonn, whose previous best World Cup result was 17th two years ago, also at Alta Badia, was 22nd in the first run. He moved up to 14th with a total time of 2:41.57.

"Close...he [Miller] was close," said men's slalom/GS Head Coach Jesse Hunt. "Bode's going fast, no question, and he's got a lot of confidence, and that's important.

"I think he may have learned something from today, but we won't know until the next race. I certainly don't want to see him skiing for second... and he isn't."

Hunt went on to say Vonn's performance may help him shake a slump. "He carried the team today. He's been struggling, but I think Thomas gained some confidence with that first run [starting back in the 40s, finishing 22nd], and with a top-10 start for the second run [in the flip-30 format], he was going for it.

"That was particularly good because we'got a lot happening this week [two giant slaloms plus a slalom Thursday-Saturday in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia] and we want everyone skiing well."

— Courtesy US Ski Team