Bode Miller (Franconia, NH), smarting 24 hours after missing a chance for a possible World Cup win, ate up the second run Monday to end a nearly 14-year podium drought for U.S. men in slalom as he finished second behind reigning world champion Mario Matt of Austria on the final day of the Chevy Truck Aspen Winternational.

Miller, starting 54th in the first run, was 16th and blitzed the 57-gate second run in 50.93 to finish with a two-run time of 1:39.69. Matt, third in the first run, finished in 1:39.08 and claimed the World Cup slalom leader's red bib. Third place went to Jean-Pierre Vidal of France, who was in a wheelchair for a month two years ago after tearing ligaments in both knees but picked up his first World Cup podium in 1:40.06.

"I don't really think either of the runs was spectacular," Miller told a post-race press conference, "but to make it down both with only small errors in th4e first run -- one kinda big bobble towards the bottom...but coming out of that start position [54th], I'm real happy where I ended up." He gave his mother a big hug in the finish area.

Rothrock close but... World Cup rookie Tom Rothrock (Cashmere, WA), making just his third World Cup start, was eighth in the first run at Aspen Mountain, but he went down briefly on the final pitch, sprang back up and finished. However, he was disqualified for missing a gate.

"This was a good learning experience for me," a disappointed Rothrock said at the finish. "I tried to stay calm but that's really tough when you're racing and you want to let it rip during your run. I'll take away some good lessons from today, though."

Again, more U.S. skiers were close to making the top-30 cutoff for the second run. Erik Schlopy (Park City, UT), who was 25th Sunday, was 32nd, just .09 away from making the cut and Chip Knight (Stowe, VT) started 59th and was 35th, just .2 away.

U.S. men's SL/GS Head Coach Jesse Hunt said, "It's fantastic. It was a great day to follow-up [Sunday when hometown favorite Casey Puckett was 14th, Schlopy 25th and Miller 26th]. They showed they had the potential to do it and we had some real bright spots. And then to actually get Bode on the podium was nice."

Coach Says Sky's the Limit for Miller
Miller's podium was the best U.S. men's slalom showing since Felix McGrath finished second to Alberto Tomba in March 1988 in Are, Sweden. "With Bode, the sky's the limit. He's been training well, he's been winning training runs by big margins ... he skied [Monday] with really smart tactics on the second run and I think he proved to himself he doesn't need to take as many risks to be on the podium," Hunt said. An improved start position should help boost his results, the coach said.

Miller said watching Croatian Ivica Kostelic win his first World Cup Sunday stung a bit because he, a Carrabassett Valley Academy grad in his sixth season on the U.S. Ski Team, felt he had a shot at victory, only to go down, hike a gate and then finish 26th -- not enough for World Cup points since he was outside the 8-percent-back (of the winning time) guideline.

"Watching him ski into first place [Sunday] lit a fire under me because I knew I could've done that. It was nice [Monday] to come down and finish; even though I wasn't on the top of the podium, it was huge step for me," Miller said.

Several inches of snow fell overnight, leaving the course glistening, and continued cold helped strengthen the run. "The course conditions held up great -- Aspen put on a great race. They really worked hard," Miller said. "The snow conditions weren't the best for a World Cup but with all the people putting in the effort out there, it was a fair race all the way through."

Because ruts formed on the course, Miller said, he couldn't attack as he hoped for his final run. Instead, he "skied smarter" -- and confidently -- to the second podium of his career. "Mostly it's not conditions as far as number goes, as course-set and snow conditions. If it's icy [and it wasn't in Aspen after the first storms of the season], I feel comfortable attacking from anywhere. And if it's soft, then you've got to pay attention to that."

The next men's World Cup races, barring reschedulings from Beaver Creek, Colo., are scheduled for Dec. 8-9 in Val d'Isere, France, with a downhill and giant slalom.

— Courtesy, US Ski Team