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Best Season Ever for U.S.News Posted by ngski on Friday, March 18, 2005 - Printer Friendly Version
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Information provided by U.S. Ski Team News Bureau
 LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (March 13) - The U.S. Ski Team completed its most successful season Sunday, finishing second in the final Nations Cup standings.
Perhaps fittingly, World Cup overall champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) had the top U.S. men's result, finishing sixth in the last slalom. In the women's giant slalom a short time later, World Championships bronze medalist Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) was ninth on the last day of World Cup Finals.
Outdoor Life Network will carry a special two-hour recap of Finals, including Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) winning two titles - the overall, the first by an American in 22 years, and super G - and Sarah Schleper (Vail, CO) collecting her first World Cup win, Wednesday night at 10 ET (9 PT) in its "Winter Revolution" show.
"We've been third overall the last two years," U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said, "and this is the first time we've been second. We've got a long way to go to catch the Austrians, but we're heading in the right direction."
The men's slalom was first on the final day of Finals. Delayed for an hour, the race went to Mario Matt of Austria, the 2001 SL world champion, with a time of 1:22.81. Germany's Alois Vogl was second (1:22.54).
Miller - who became the first U.S. skier since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983 to capture the overall World Cup title, completing it a day after he won the super G crown Friday as he tied with teammate Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) in dramatic fashion - timed in 1:23.66. Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was leading when he skied out in the second run.
"I struggled," Miller said with a grin, more a reference to his 13th in the first run than his blistering pace which produced the fastest second run.
In the women's giant slalom, Spain's Maria Jose Rienda Contreras led the first run and went on to victory in 2:20.18 with Mancuso timed in 2:22.01 and Kristina Koznick (Eagan, MN) 21st in 2:23.17. Lindsey Kildow (Vail, CO) elected not to start the final run while Schleper failed to finish the first run.
The Americans head home for the U.S. Alpine Championships March 29-April 5 at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. Miller said he planned to stay in Europe for a brief time to test new equipment before heading to Mammoth.
For complete FIS results Click Here
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