Miller Out, Ligety Swoops In
Young Ted Ligety gave the United States the Olympic gold medal that Bode Miller couldn't deliver Tuesday night, uncorking the two fastest slalom runs of the day to win the men's combined and break the Americans' bad luck in Alpine skiing.
The 21-year-old skier from Park City, Utah, in his first Olympics, had a combined time of 3 minutes, 9.35 seconds for the downhill and two slalom runs. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won the silver medal, 53-hundredths of a second behind the American at 3:09.88. Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria captured the bronze at 3:10.67.
Austrian favorite Benjamin Raich, the leader going into the final slalom run, skied off course, setting off a red-white-and-blue celebration at the finish area.
"It's incredible," Ligety said. "I can't believe it (happened) in combined because I'm not very good in downhill."
As CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reports, nobody looked more stunned than Ligety himself - as he scooped the gold in a come-from-behind victory.
He said it would have been even better if Raich had finished.
"I would prefer to win standing up to him," Ligety said.
U.S. skiers Steven Nyman and Scott Macartney tackled Ligety, and the three teammates rolled in the snow together. They rose, and Ligety waved an American flag while he was propped on the others' shoulders.
"I'm not surprised he's on the podium," U.S. men's coach Phil McNichol said. "I'm a bit surprised he won gold."
Despite the drama in the Alps, the arrival of embattled Canadian ice hockey general manager Wayne Gretzky threatened to overshadow the sports.
Gretzky is embroiled along with his actress wife Janet Jones in a betting scandal in the United States. Although he denies any links with the gambling, Gretzky is expected to be hounded by reporters throughout his time in Turin, where he aims to guide the Canadians to a repeat of their Salt Lake City gold. Check the schedule of upcoming events.
In related developments:
Ligety burst onto the world scene with two thirds and a second in this, his second World Cup season, and it seemed only a question of when, not if he would be a winner.
It couldn't have come at a better time for the frustrated Americans.
"It's a great day, especially with Bode skiing out," Macartney said. "Ted stepped up."
"You've just got to get in the starting gate and throw down whatever you've got," Ligety said.
What he had was two near-flawless slalom runs, the fastest of the competition — 44.09 seconds in the first and 43.84 in the second.
On the final run, he attacked the steep part of the course at the start but gained most of his time with a sweep through the middle section, dashing between gates with a perfect aggressive rhythm.
Miller was disqualified for straddling a gate in the first run, just when he seemed to have built a commanding lead for his elusive first Olympic gold medal.
The disqualification gave the lead temporarily to Raich, who had trailed Miller by nearly a second.
The U.S. team decided not to protest.
"We looked at it enough times," said program director Jesse Hunt. "We're satisfied."
Miller was nonchalant.
"I've straddled probably more times than most people have finished the slalom," he told reporters at the bottom of the run.
Indeed, the often-reckless American failed to finish five of seven slaloms on the World Cup circuit this season.
"If it's clear, it's clear," Miller said.
That left U.S. hopes to Ligety, who was 32nd after the downhill, 3.06 seconds behind Miller, and third after the first slalom run, 86-hundredths of a second behind Raich.
"Teddy will save the day," McNichol said.
He did, and he picked up his more famous teammate in the process.
Like a cowboy riding a wild horse, Miller was a sharp contrast to the smooth, swivel-hipped style of Raich in a classic U.S.-Austrian showdown on a cloud-shrouded evening in the Italian Alps.
About three-quarters of the way through the first of two evening slalom runs — on the 42nd of 56 gates — Miller pinned a red gate with his left ski and the post popped up between his feet.
"I came down and the run felt fine," Miller said. "I had no idea I had straddled. ... I was in the recovery room already getting ready for the second run when I heard it on the radio and I looked at the replay."
By his own assessment, Miller was not as wild as he usually is.
"I wasn't so much conservative as just bad," he said.
Miller had seemed poised to become the first U.S. Alpine skier to win three Olympic medals. His time of 2 minutes, 23.68 seconds through the downhill and one slalom run was 97-hundredths of a second better than Raich's — not an insurmountable lead, but one he could easily have held.
All of a sudden, those numbers were meaningless.
A few hours earlier, Miller had charged down the downhill course with trademark abandon to take the lead while Raich struggled to finish 13th in that portion of the combined, 2:06 behind Miller.
Miller had the fastest downhill in 1 minute, 38.36 on a course slightly shortened from the one on which he finished a disappointing fifth in Sunday's downhill medal race.
He delivered the kind of nail-biting run that has made him among the world's best, making turns on one ski and soaring through jumps.
Within view of the finish line bleachers, Miller nailed the last jump in unusual style. In midair, rather than thrusting out his arms sideways for balance as he often does, he extended them behind his back, his poles sticking straight up.
It was classic form that for once didn't elude Miller. The gold medal still did, though.