Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) overcame first-run troubles, including a broken ski pole, Sunday and, calling it "as big a battle as any of my wins," finished 3rd in the slalom to wrap up Hahnenkamm Weekend.

When first-run leaders Mitja Kunc of Slovenia and Croatian Ivica Kostelic ran into problems in their second runs, Austrian Rainer Schoenfelder was able to cruise to victory in a time of 1:36.88.

The US's Tom Rothrock (Cashmere, WA) was 16th for the best World Cup result of his young career.

Austrian Kilian Albrecht, who has trained in Vermont's Green Mountain School racing program, was 2nd in 1:37.07 with Miller, 7th in the first run, 3rd, just two-hundredths of a second behind Albrecht.

Miller jammed a ski pole between his legs perhaps 20 seconds into his first run, snapping off the basket and about six inches of pole. He somehow kept his balance -- "there must've 10 or 15 places where I lost two-tenths of a second here and two there," he recalled -- and came down seventh.

"I think the level of skiing was really high today," Miller said. "I mean, Kostelic and Kunc are some of the very best in the world...

"We had two courses that were tremendously different — the first run was on the difficult side and the second run was on the easier side. ...The first run was a great course and without the mistake, putting that pole between my legs up top, I think I could've had a good lead after the first run," Miller said. "The second run was just a grinder, slow speeds...and just a grinder."

The Carrabassett Valley Academy graduate, who has won three World Cup races (two slalom, one GS) this season, added, "The two courses really didn't suit me and it was as big a battle as any of my wins. When guys are skiing well like these guys did, you can't control it. I just got beat by some great skiing. This was awesome. This is the biggest hill on the World Cup."

Rothrock, the only other U.S. athlete to reach the second run, posted the second top-30 of his career, finishing 16th in 1:38.53. The final pre-Olympic slalom will be held Tuesday night in Schladming.

World slalom champion Mario Matt seriously injured his right shoulder during the race and official said later he would be sidelined indefinitely for either a separated or fractured shoulder, putting in doubt whether he could compete at the Olympics next month.

Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt won the combined calculation for the weekend, combining Sunday's slalom and Saturday's Hahnenkamm downhill. Teammate Lasse Kjus was 2nd, and Austrian Michael Walchhofer, 3rd.

No Americans competed in the combined.

The men move on to Schladming for the night slalom Tuesday. The Olympic Team will be named Jan. 28 after the weekend races in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

— Courtesy, US Ski Team