Nickerson to race Soelden

Warner Nickerson gained a World Cup start today after a two-man time trial to fill an open spot on the U.S. World Cup roster for the opening race in Soelden this weekend.
Nickerson, the country's 13th ranked giant slalom skier, beat friend and teammate Dane Spencer. It will be Nickerson's third World Cup giant slalom start and his first since 2006.
Since Bode Miller and Jimmy Cochran elected not to race the season opener, an extra spot was available, and since Spencer and Nickerson, the only other two guys in the U.S. with a world rank under 100 that were not already racing, they got the go-ahead to duke it out.
Spencer, who has been coming back from a serious neck injury in 2006, has seven top-15 finishes in World Cup giant slalom and was ranked 20th in the world in the discipline before his crash. The U.S. Ski Team gave him a year to come back before cutting him from the team.
The two have been training together with the Croatian national team in Hintertux, Austria in preparation for the upcoming season. Neither Nickerson nor Spencer are named athletes to the U.S. Ski Team, but both are competing this season in Europa Cups, Nor-Ams - whatever races might lead them to the World Cup.
"When we woke up this morning our day consisted of us being completely silent to each other for the entire time we scraped our skis, the drive to the mountain, and most of the three gondolas to the top. It felt like eternity," Nickerson wrote in an email to friends and supporters.
Originally, the U.S. Ski Team wanted the two athletes to drive seven hours to Saas-Fee to do the time trial, but apparently Thomas Erhard convinced Ski Team coach Sasha Rearick to set the best 2 of 3 run ordeal in Hintertux.
Nickerson said the conditions were soft and the course was torn apart, but that he was able to ski a fast first run.
"I went first since my points are slightly better. I sat in the start, went through my routine, rubbed my knees, got my legs active, focused on bending my ski at the top of the turn, and pushed out of the gate. The Croatians weren’t kidding there were some big holes, but I put down a pretty solid run on the top and really nailed the line coming onto the flats," Nickerson said. "It hasn’t quite set in, but I’m just psyched to still be skiing and ready for whatever comes."

Miller back in action

After free-skiing for a day at Saas-Fee, where the U.S. Men's Alpine team is prepping for the season, Bode Miller jumped into gates during a slalom training session with Ted Ligety, Jimmy Cochran, Tim Kelley and Tim Jitloff.

While Miller is easing back into the program and testing lots of equipment, Men's Technical Head Coach Rudi Soulard said he's happy with what Miller is able to do in the first few days at Saas-Fee.

"It's pretty early to say and Bode was probably a little sore after skiing today, but he's really happy to be skiing and it's good to have him back on snow with the guys," said Soulard. "I set a slalom course on the steeps and Bode jumped right in. He made some good turns."

For those who haven't followed the story, Miller decided to return to skiing after taking a break mid-season. He's also re-joined the U.S. Ski Team for the upcoming Olympic year.

"The surface is really hard, the terrain is great and I'm having fun," Miller said. "I have a lot of work to do so I need to be doing these long days. There's no shortcutting training -- it just takes time. My main focus is staying healthy. If I can stay injury-free through the fall, I'll be in good shape."

Though Miller plans to skip the opening race in Soelden, he is shooting to race slalom in Levi, Finland.

"I've never pushed my preparation so late so we don't know exactly how long it will take before I am in racing shape," Miller said.

Below: Ted Ligety, Jimmy Cochran and Tim Kelley train in Saas-Fee. Photos courtesy U.S. Ski Team/Adam Perreault

Meet Resi

The same guy?

It's not news to ski racing fans that Bode Miller is one of the featured athletes on ABC's new show The Superstars, which began airing this week.
What may be a surprise however, is that this guy:

And this guy:


Are the same person.
While Miller crushed the competition, including Terrell Owens, on the uphill biking portion of the challenge, he looked like a complete chump as he tried to run along the 1.1-mile course. Chalk it up to serious lactic acid buildup or to some partying the night before (Miller admitted after to losing his lunch in the bushes) but Miller did not look like one of the world's finest athletes, to say the least.
This is, mind you, the same guy who recovered from the near-horrendous crash (pictured above, Youtube here) during the 2006 Torino Olympics.

Skiing or not?
For all those still wondering if Miller will compete in this year's World Cup or the Vancouver Games, you'll have to wait and see. A recent blog post on Universal Sports says he's still unsure:

"Coming off of last season, I’m not very happy to be around the World Cup or Olympic scene right now. I'm just not happy when I'm there. I need some time away, which I have this summer.
I'll definitely be skiing somewhere next season, I just haven’t made any final decisions about the World Cup. I'll probably take some fun ski trips, go ski powder, maybe do some small races here and there -- who knows."