Miller crashes, Rocca wins men's World Cup slalom


December 22, 2004
FLACHAU, Austria (Ticker) - American Bode Miller crashed and failed to qualify for the second run before Italy's Giorgio Rocca won the men's World Cup slalom on Wednesday.

Miller was on pace for one of the fastest times in the opening run, but missed a gate and crashed.

A nearly flawless second run propelled Rocca to a come-from-behind victory, 0.24 seconds ahead of Austrian favorite Rainer Schoenfelder. He was 0.13 seconds behind Schoenfelder, the defending World Cup slalom champion, after the first leg.

Rocca clocked a two-run aggregate time of 1 minute, 34.86 seconds to earn his fourth career World Cup win.

Alois Vogl of Germany was third, 0.31 seconds behind Rocca for the first podium finish of his career.

Thomas Grandi of Canada, who was coming off back-to-back victories in the giant slalom, finished 12th. Grandi earned his first World Cup triumph Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy and followed with a win here on Tuesday.

The Italian-born Grandi had only two career podium finishes in World Cup action prior to his back-to-back victories.

Miller remains the overall leader in the World Cup standings with 858 points. Austria's Benjamin Raich, who finished sixth on Wednesday, is second with 546 points.

Hermann Maier, the defending overall champion, is third with 482 points.