Miller Tightens Up the World Cup Race

Bode Miller is doing his part to challenge Austria’s World Cup alpine skiing dominance.

Miller, who won silver in the giant slalom and combined events at the Salt Lake City Olympics, recorded his first World Cup victory of the season Sunday on the strength of a bold first run of a giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy. His 1.06-second triumph over Davide Simoncelli of Italy vaulted Miller into second place in the overall World Cup standings, behind Stephan Eberharter of Austria.

“It was a wait, but it was a great hill to do it,” Miller said on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn. Web site. “This was the one I wanted all year.”

After 13 World Cup races Miller has 433 points and Eberharter, who injured his right knee two weeks ago at Val d’Isere, France, has 548 points. Eberharter was expected to be out for several weeks but was cleared two days ago to compete in a downhill Sunday at Bormio, Italy.

Eberharter took home gold (giant slalom), silver (super-giant slalom) and bronze (downhill) from Salt Lake City.

Miller also is second in the giant slalom standings with 225 points, behind Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, and 13th in the downhill after four races. The native of Franconia, N.H., is competing this season in all four events (downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-G) and is only now starting to feel comfortable.

“I guess I’ve begun developing into a four-event skier,” he said. “But to me, a four-event skier is someone who can compete to win in all four events. I’m competing and I’m scoring good points, so I’m getting there.... “I have my hands full being prepared for each race. I’m really excited about how I’m skiing, though, and the feelings I’m getting from my skis.”

The women’s World Cup circuit resumes Saturday and Sunday with giant slalom and slalom races at Semmering, Austria. Janica Kostelic of Croatia, who won gold at Salt Lake City in the giant slalom, slalom and combined plus silver in the super-G, is the overall women’s leader with 775 points. Last year’s World Cup overall leader, Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, has 438. Three U.S. skiers are in the top 20, with Kirsten Clark sixth, Caroline Lalive 17th and Sarah Schleper 19th.

Tracking Marion

Nic Bideau, who coaches several Australian distance runners, said the country’s track and field federation should rescind its invitation to Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery to run in a Grand Prix meet in Melbourne in March because they were seen working with banned coach Charlie Francis.

“They wouldn’t be the first people I’d be bringing to Australia anymore because this is what everyone is going to talk about. It will be the focus of their trip,” Bideau told The Australian, a national newspaper. “Unless this is cleared up I would think it is not ideal to have them here.”

Jones said earlier this month she had left coach Trevor Graham to train under Canadian Derek Hansen. She and Montgomery were photographed in Toronto working on the track with Hansen and with Francis, who was prohibited from coaching Canadian athletes after admitting he provided steroids to sprinter Ben Johnson. Johnson was stripped of the 100-meter gold medal at Seoul in 1988 after testing positive for banned substances.

Bideau said he respects Francis’ coaching ability, but added, “ideally, you’d think Jones and Montgomery would prefer to find someone else because of the baggage he carries.”

The head of Athletics Australia, Simon Allatson, told The Australian he has no qualms about Jones and Montgomery training or competing in the country.

“There is no evidence that I’m aware of that would suggest Marion and Tim are doing anything untoward,” he said. “The fact that Francis had a relationship with Ben Johnson and he was sanctioned by his national federation, that is in the past.... “

Here and There

Lamine Diack, president of the International Assn. of Athletics Federations (the governing body of track and field), plans to run for office again. He is expected to announce at the IAAF Congress this summer in Paris that he will run for another four-year term. Diack succeeded Primo Nebiolo, who died in 1999.

USA Track and Field’s indoor Golden Spike Tour will consist of four events, starting Feb. 1 with the Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. It will continue Feb. 7 with the Millrose Games at New York’s Madison Square Garden and Feb. 15 with the Tyson Invitational at Fayetteville, Ark. The tour wraps up at the Reggie Lewis Center March 1-2 with the U.S. indoor championships. The top two finishers in the U.S. championships will qualify for the world indoor championships, March 14-16 at Birmingham, England.

Maria Garcia of Carson, 17, won her third consecutive U.S. junior short track speedskating title last weekend in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She qualified for the junior world championships next month in Budapest, Hungary, as did Lezleigh Jaworski of Long Beach and Alice Kim of Reseda. Derek Gray of Muskegon, Mich., won the junior men’s title.... The U.S. senior long track speed skating championships begin today at the Olympic Oval in Kerns, Utah.

Olympic bobsled silver medalists Todd Hays and Randy Jones won two World Cup medals before the tour began a holiday break. They teamed to win the two-man competition at La Plagne, France, for Hays’ first World Cup victory in a year, and finished second in the four-man competition with Steve Mesler and Ivan Radcliff.... The U.S. women’s hockey team opened training camp Thursday at Lake Placid, N.Y. The camp, which will include intra-squad scrimmages, is part of the selection process for the team that will compete at the world championships, April 3-9 in Beijing, China.

Rena Inoue and John Baldwin of Santa Monica, expected to contend for the pairs title at next month’s U.S. figure skating championships, are among 10 local skaters scheduled to perform in an exhibition Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Ice Palace in Aliso Viejo. Skaters will perform the programs they will skate at the U.S. championships. Admission is free, but donations are welcome to help pay skaters’ training expenses.