Benjamin Raich wins World Cup super combi; Bode Miller finishes 5th

Raich wins World Cup super combi, Miller 5th

VAL D’ISERE, France — Benjamin Raich of Austria won a World Cup super combined race, Bode Miller finished fifth and American teammate Ted Ligety skidded off the course on Friday.

The former overall World Cup champion had a combined time of 2 minutes, 7.71 seconds for the super-G and slalom runs. Raich was 0.89 seconds better than Marcel Hirscher, also of Austria.

Miller had a total time of 2:09.40. Ligety, the combined gold medalist at the 2006 Turin Olympics, was leading by more than a second when he went out.

“It was tough today,” said Miller, a two-time overall World Cup champion. “I didn’t feel very good, but it was important that I get some points because I hadn’t scored a lot last year.”

Raich, who was fourth after the super-G portion of the event, captured the 35th win of his career. He had the best slalom run, 49.94 seconds, on the treacherous Face de Bellevarde.

Manfred Moelgg of Italy and Romed Baumann of Austria shared third place. World Cup leader Carlo Janka, who was second after the super-G, fell midway through the race.

Janka struggled from the beginning with a big mistake on the upper part of the course before falling.

The 23-year-old Swiss skier won a super combi, downhill and giant slalom last weekend in Beaver Creek, Colo. He missed a chance to become the first skier to claim four straight World Cup wins since Hermann Maier in 1998.