DEER VALLEY ? Twice, Bode Miller beat the odds. The third time, the odds beat him. Miller fell twice on his second run in the slalom, eliminating any hope of becoming the first American to win three medals in alpine skiing in one Olympics.
Jean-Pierre Vidal of France won the race, followed by his teammate Sebastien Amiez. Winner of the bronze, Alain Baxter of Scotland, skiing under the flag of Great Britain, became the first to ever win an alpine ski medal for his country.
The race focused on three skiers ? Miller, Vidal and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, older brother of quadruple medalist Janica Kostelic.
And, through the first half of the race, those three were the leaders. On what racers called a "very rough course," Vidal was the fastest skier on the first run. Miller was three-tenths of a second back in second position, and Kostelic was a second and a half back in fourth.
On the second run, with the field of the first 15 flip-flopped, the first four skiers went out of the course, including young American Tom Rothrock.
When it was Kostelic's turn, he went out six gates from the finish.
Even before Miller could get into a good rhythm on his second run, his race was over. He fell about 15 seconds into his run, hiked back into the course and skied on, but then fell again after a dozen gates. All that was left for him was to finish, which he did in 25th position.
The best finish for an American was 12th by Chip Knight. Park City's Erik Schlopy finished 14th.
"There was a very small margin of error through that part of the course," explained Miller of his first fall. "I was willing to push it in there. Those are the places I make up time on those guys. I carry more speed than anyone. It was a matter of making that one gate. If I made the gate and got into the hairpin (turn), then I have more of a cushion of time to work with and that was the plan. Sometimes things just don't stick to the plan."
Miller's coach, Jesse Hunt, set the course for the second run. He said he set a tough course to favor Miller's all-or-nothing style. "As it turned out," he reported, "the conditions broke down a little bit and made it tougher than I anticipated."
Vidal was the next skier and, early into his run, he want back, lost balance and appeared for a second to be falling. "It's true, I was in danger, but I was determined to cross that finish line. If I had to put a hand down or whatever, I was going to finish," he explained after the race.
Vidal's two-run time on the steep Deer Valley course was one minute, 41.06 seconds. Amiez clocked a 1:41.82 and Baxter a 1:42.32.
Knight's time was 1:44.86, and Schlopy's was 1:45.21.
Earlier in these Games, Miller lifted the entire U.S. alpine team by coming through in the final run of the combined to win a silver. A week later, he put down the fastest time in the final run of the giant slalom and won his second silver.
Miller said he wanted to ski a good run before the cheering crowd of nearly 15,000 on Saturday. He said he could have backed off and maybe "finished fifth or fourth or even first, but I was not willing to make that decision. I wanted to win. You've got to be willing to take risks . . . and you come out with a gold or come out with nothing. I battled hard in the combined, and I battled hard in the GS, and I battled as hard as I could in the slalom, I just didn't get a medal for this battle."
He said he leaves the Olympics with no regrets, and "Oh yes, I'll be back in four more years."
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