Bode Miller skis out in just 8 seconds, loses slalom, bid for unprecedented 4th Alpine medal

Bode Miller skis out early in men’s slalom

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Bode Miller’s bid for Olympic history ended early Saturday when he skied off-course just 8 seconds into his final event.

The 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., trying to become the first man to win four Alpine medals in the same Olympics, straddled the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom on a fog-shrouded, snowy day.

He stood by the side of the course looking mystified by his mistake.

“I just hooked a tip and it’s obviously disappointing when you’re fired up and you’re skiing well and everything’s there,” Miller said. “You go out of the gate with the intention of absolutely maximizing every turn.”

Miller is one of only five men to get three Alpine medals at a games, a record performance for a U.S. skier.

He won gold in the super-combined, silver in the super-G and bronze in downhill.

His five career Olympic medals are tied for second on the all-time list behind Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who has eight.

Miller had not won a two-leg slalom race on the World Cup circuit since December 2004, but showed excellent form last Sunday in the slalom portion of the super-combined to take his first Olympic title.

However, his run Saturday lasted just five gates.

Miller was one of 10 men in the top-30 ranked skiers who did not make it to the finish in difficult conditions for racing.

“It’s the Olympics and we knew it was going to be challenging, and we knew it was going to be tough and everyone’s skiing 100 percent,” Miller said.

Persistent wet snow forced race organizers to spread chemicals on the course to create a solid racing surface.

Several racers, including world champion Manfred Pranger, were launched into the air and crashed out coming over a small compression midway through their run.

The Dave Murray course at Whistler is staging its sixth race of the games. It was also used for the women’s slalom Friday.

The race surface has changed from slushy in training before the medal races began, to hard and icy for the speed races last week, and back to soft and sticky for the technical slalom events as wet, spring-like snow spread over the mountain.