Miller wins downhill skiing gold

Bode Miller of the United States won the gold medal in the World Championship downhill on Saturday to claim the title of fastest skier on the planet.

Miller posted a winning time of 1:56.22 which was 0.44sec faster than his fellow American Daron Rahlves who had to settle for the silver.

Austrian Fritz Strobl avoided an American clean sweep when he took the bronze medal.

It was Miller’s second gold medal of the 2005 World Championships – the American also took the gold medal in the super G a week ago.

That made him only the second man to complete the double of downhill and super G – the only other man to do so was legendary Austrian Hermann Maier.

It was also Miller’s fourth career world title as in 2003 he did a different double when he clinched gold in both the giant slalom and the combined.

The perfectionist from New Hampshire was critical of his own performance, saying: “I really skied the final part badly, the last three turns in particular. I was out of breath. I skied the upper part well but also made several mistakes.

“But you have to adpat yourself and keep cool. I could not have dreamed of a better podium alongside Daron as well.

“He’s great, a superb team-mate. Two Americans on the podium, that’s fantastic.”

This could end up going down as one of the great performances of all time for a skier because Miller is also leading the overall standings in the men’s World Cup.