SNOWBASIN ? So far, so good ? for American alpine skier Bode Miller and for the United States Olympic Team.
Miller shook off the threat of a career-threatening injury, righting himself from a would-be fall at Snowbasin to claim the silver medal at Wednesday's men combined event. He's favored to win another medal or two in the men's slalom and giant slalom later in the Games.
And speaking of medals, Miller's silver put the U.S. medal count at 10 so far this Olympics. That's halfway to the United States Olympic Committee's projection of 20 ? with six days down and another 11 days to go.
Had Miller not feared for his life, he may not have won his silver. He may, in fact, have decided to take the fall, brush off the snow and walk away ? feeling good that he gave it his all.
In the early morning downhill run, Miller hit a particularly bumpy section on the high-speed course, went wide on the turn and fell on his side. It was, he said, the kind of a fall that could "hurt, injure and even kill a skier."
He added: "Had it not been life threatening, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. It was above and beyond what I can normally do. I felt if I didn't I would die."
In a fleeting second when he hit, he remembered his crash in the World Championships a year ago that resulted in a serious knee injury.
Instead, he stood up, shrugged off the fall ? and a poor first-run on the slalom ? to put down a dream run in the second slalom to capture the silver medal.
Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway, who with 15 previous medals in the Olympics and world championships is recognized as the world's best all-around skier, won the event. Benjamin Raich of Austria was third.
Miller left no doubt he captured a medal ? the only question was what color, quite possibly gold. His time was that good. His determination that evident. His second slalom run, well, that reckless.
Sitting in fifth position with his second slalom run to go, Miller unleashed a perfect run. He skied a thread-thin line, seldom in control, visibly out of control, and he bumped four skiers ahead of him to win the silver medal.
In the downhill fall, Miller gave up 2.5 seconds to Aamodt in the downhill. In the first run of the slalom, he made a critical mistake trying to hit the transition from flat to a steep pitch and remained 2.5 behind.
The snow "was faster than I expected," he said of his mistake. "I wasn't prepared. I wasn't used to the snow."
To keep on the course, he went hard on his edge. A cloud of snow flew from under his ski as he came out of the turn. It was, the crowd recognized, a bad sign. The groans were as audible as the cheers had been just seconds before.
"I was disappointed (with the first run), but that's ski racing. I didn't show what I was about. After that I was just trying to salvage the day. I put racing to the test; I tested myself. It was a challenging course (on the second run). I skied my heart out. It was a great day.
"I have the speed right now. I can go in a different line and put different pressure (on the skis) than the rest of the skiers. Between runs, it was depressing trying to keep my head up. I simply concentrated on putting down a good second run. I wanted to compete well in the Olympics."
Even Aamodt paid tribute to Miller and his run.
"He has revolutionized skiing," he said. "No one skis as fast. To control his speed, he makes a lot of mistakes, but when he puts it together, he's in a class of his own. He's amazing. I've never seen anyone ski as fast as he's doing."
Bill Marolt, president of the U.S. Ski Team, said before the second run he told Miller to relax and "ski within himself and not worry about the little things."
"This race was important. We need the alpine team in order to reach our goal of 10 medals."
Aamodt said he simply wanted to put down three good runs.
"I was leading after the downhill and leading after the first slalom. There was a lot of pressure on me," he said. "I knew the margin was small. What is important to me was that it was enough."
The combined time for Aamodt's three runs ? one downhill and two slalom ? was 3 minutes 17.56 seconds. Miller posted 3:17.84, while Raich's total was 3:18.26.
America's only other finisher was Jakub Fiala in 19th. Casey Puckett, who was expected to do well, made a mistake in the downhill and then hooked a tip and fell six gates into the first slalom.
Puckett called the race "extremely disappointing. I worked four hard years for this." He then hinted that he was thinking of retirement from ski racing.
The next men's event will be the super-G on Saturday at Snowbasin.
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