WHISTLER, British Columbia, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Bode Miller, America's sometimes brilliant and sometimes mysterious alpine skiing star, won the first gold medal of his Olympic career Sunday.
Miller rallied from seventh place after the downhill portion of the alpine super combined to capture his third medal of the Vancouver Games and his fifth in three Olympic appearances.
Miller became the first American to win three alpine medals in the same Olympics. Having never won more than five medals in a single Olympics before, the American alpine squad has eight this time.
American short-track skater Apolo Ohno set the U.S. record for most medals in a Winter Olympics career on Saturday when he captured his seventh. Miller is just two off that pace.
Miller won two silvers in Salt Lake City eight years ago, then suffered through a dismal showing in Turin. He failed to finish three of the five races in which he competed and his apparent lack of interest besmirched his image as his country's top alpine skier.
He headed to Vancouver with an obvious hope of turning things around and he has done so beyond expectations. His comeback Sunday will go down as one of the most sensational efforts in American alpine history.
He finished the downhill portion of the combined 0.76 of a second behind leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, the super-giant slalom winner on Friday.
Miller then turned in a time of 51.01 in his slalom run, after which the six athletes in front of him after the downhill took their turns.
One by one, they either fell or produced a time significantly slower than that of Miller. He was still on top of the standings when Svindal began the final run of the event. Svindal, however, botched his effort and failed to finish, leaving Miller with the gold.
Ivica Kostelic of Croatia finished 0.33 of a second behind Miller for the silver medal and Silvan Zurbriggen was third, 0.40 of a second back.
