Bode Miller entered the men’s downhill final Sunday as the man to beat, but after a couple of missteps on the course, he finished in a disappointing eighth place.
After posting the fastest times on two of the three training days, the American skiing star entered Sunday’s race with confidence. At 36 years old, Miller was aiming to become the oldest Alpine gold medalist in Winter Games history, but he wasn’t able to replicate the results he had in practice.
“This can be a tough one to swallow today, having skied so well in the training runs, and then come in and be way out of the medals,” Miller said after the race. “But I think I skied really well, honestly. I was super-aggressive. The conditions didn’t favor me today, but I think, all things considered, I skied really well.”
Miller finished more than a half-second slower than Austria’s Matthias Mayer, who won gold.
Miller, in his fifth Winter Olympics, will have a few more opportunities to earn medals. In the upcoming days, he will compete in the Super Combined, the Super-G and Giant Slalom.
