Americans Bode Miller and Ted Ligety entered the super combined event at the 2014 Winter Olympics with impressive resumes, but neither left the competition with a medal.
Miller, a New Hampshire native, followed up a gold medal in the event at the 2010 Vancouver Games by finishing a disappointing sixth Friday.
Ligety, the defending world champion, struggled in the slalom portion of the race and limped to the finish line in 12th place. He was brutally honest about his performance when speaking with reporters afterward.
“The snow was a lot better than I thought it would be, and the course set was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I just skied conservatively,” Ligety said, via ESPN.com. “To put it simply, I choked — for sure. That’s disappointing.”
Swiss skier Sandro Viletta finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 45.20 seconds to claim his first Olympic gold, with Ivica Kostelic of Croatia taking silver and Italy’s Christof Innerhofer finishing with the bronze.
Miller, whose five career Olympic medals are the most among American skiers, expressed his frustration with his poor showing on Twitter after the race.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MillerBode/status/434317928834805760 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/MillerBode/status/434319302691684352Â align=’center’%5D
Miller will compete in the Super-G on Sunday, and Ligety will race in Wednesday’s giant slalom. Both are expected to contend for medals.
Photo via Twitter/@BGlobeSports
