Bode Miller Disqualified from Combined Event

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ALEX CHADWICK, host:

At the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, there's a big development in skiing. Bode Miller, the leader of the American Men's Team is out of the Alpine combined event that mixes downhill and slalom. NPR's Chris Arnold is covering the Games in the mountains above Turin. Chris what happened?

CHRIS ARNOLD reporting:

Alex well I'll tell you Bode was in first place. I mean you know he, we heard a lot of hype about him, but after the downhill segment of this race. And I should tell you that there are three parts to this race. The first is a downhill run and then there's two runs of slalom; and whoever has the best cumulative time wins the race. And after the downhill component, Bode was in first place. He had a strong run in the first leg of the slalom, where he was still in first place. There had been two runs in the race, and he was the guy. But on the review of the videotape, people saw that he had hooked one of his skis, and it was just by a couple of millimeters.

You could see on the slow motion video that they're showing his ski actually hit head on onto the gate that he was going around. If it had been half an inch the other way, his ski probably would have bounced inside the gate. But as it was, it bounced around it. And that's it; he's disqualified. He's out of the race.

CHADWICK: Well, this is a guy who has a reputation for skiing just right at the edge of things, right? I mean, this is his style.

ARNOLD: Yeah, I mean, they call it the Bode show. Whereas, the Austrians and other skiers have very tight form when they race, Miller is kind of famous for having his arms flying around, and he's way back on his skis. At the very end of the downhill, he kind of got a little back. When you ski, if you lean back on your skis, you lose control. It's much harder to turn them. But you're also going really fast when you're back there. So it's kind of like rocketing along without being able to steer, and that's his style.

A lot of times he'll either win the race or just blow out of the course. And that's what happened here.

CHADWICK: So what is happening? I mean, he was in first place. What's going on with the race?

ARNOLD: Well, there's an Austrian named Benjamin Rice, who is the big sort of superhero of skiing. The Austrians are kind of like the New York Yankees of downhill racing; and he's in first place. But Ted Ligety, who is an American, is in third place after two races.

You know, this is the thing about the American team this time, people said in the past like, oh, we might have one good skier or something, but we've got a pretty deep bench. And Bode blew out of the race, but Ted Ligety is in third and could win this thing. I mean, he could medal and might even catch up to Rice. He's a very strong slalom skier.

CHADWICK: Is this a race that will be over today, Chris, or are the events stretched over several days?

ARNOLD: No, this one will be over today. I mean, after eight hours or so, I mean, it's kind of a marathon ski race. But, no, we should have a medalist here at the end of the day. And again, Ligety could be the guy. He's 21 years old. He's from Park City. And he's just a very strong skier.

CHADWICK: Okay. Just one other thing, the American women's team, how do prospects look today after that terrible crash yesterday? I guess, Ms. Kildow is actually all right and maybe thinking about skiing?

ARNOLD: Well, you may know more than I do. I've been up in the mountains here. But the last I've heard is that she didn't break anything; she didn't tear any ligaments. She hit her head. I don't know if you saw that crash, but she really took a header. What they're saying is it's just a matter of how sore she's going to feel on race day. She did a full split, hit her head, got beat up pretty bad. She's not going to be out of the race, because she tore her knee, but it all depends on how she's feeling that day. So we may not know until a few hours before the race.

CHADWICK: Well, I did see the crash, and the idea that she's going to get back up and race down that mountain tomorrow is astounding. But I guess we'll wait and see.

NPR's Chris Arnold reporting from the Olympic Games in Italy. Chris, thank you.

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