Bode Miller won his 28th career World Cup race this weekend in Kitzbuehel, Austria, to set a new record for victories by a US skier. The maverick Miller, a four-time alpine skiing world champion who no longer skis with the US team, won the men's combined title after tying for second in the downhill portion and finishing 14th in the slalom.
Miller's achievement means he is now the most successful American skier ever, overtaking the former record holder, Phil Mahre.
"It's a nice record, something you dream about as a kid," the 30-year-old Miller said. "As a professional skier, you're more focused on winning each individual race. Before the season, it was my target to break that record, and it's a really good feeling if you reach your goals."
Miller has been skiing as an independent since leaving the U.S. team last May. He explained to Time magazine why he left: "The team cut my funding, so I was going to be paying for myself any way."
When asked if he expected his luck to change this season after battling mistakes, rocky courses, windstorms and weak skis, he responded: "The results have been pretty poor this season. But when I'm at speed and not making mistakes, I'm much, much faster than the rest of the world right now."
Now second on the list, Phil Mahre sort of dismissed Miller's achievement. "It's funny, if it wasn't for the press I wouldn't know how many World Cup wins I had because I never paid any attention to it," he told the Yakima Herald-Republic. "(The record) never made any mind to me because it's not a big, big deal. Yeah it's an American record, but it's pretty puny in the (overall) record books."
Bode Miller now ranks eighth on the all-time list of World Cup wins but trails the great names by a long shot. Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark had a record 86 victories, followed by "the Hermannator", Austria's Hermann Maier with 53.
