Word: millers
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...bravura of aerials, Miller may prove that when it comes to the Olympics, speed still thrills. Certainly Europe hasn't lost its "hup, hup, hup" for slalom. Two weeks ago in Schladming, Austria, for instance, Miller won a World Cup slalom in front of a roaring crowd of 50,000. "Everyone's talking about him," says U.S. technical coach Jesse Hunt. "They know him by his first name," as if he were a soccer star...
That fame comes as no surprise to the people who have followed Miller. By the time he got to Carrabbassett Valley Academy (C.V.A.), a ski-racer prep school, his athleticism was evident but his style was wildly unorthodox...
That might have something to do with his carefully uncontrolled childhood. The Millers chose to live slightly off the grid in Franconia, N.H., in what Bode calls an "awesome" cabin. It had no plumbing or electricity and was miles from any road. His parents "are both of the minimalist mentality, where less is more," says Miller. Young Bode spent summers building his athletic ability at his grandfather's tennis camp at Tamarack Camp, also in Franconia...
...same time, Miller was extremely analytical, breaking down each race and figuring out how to go faster in each segment. That led him to a new technology called shaped skis, which made turning easier for average skiers. Racers had dismissed the innovation, but Miller realized that shaped skis would let him carry more speed into the turns. Eventually, all the pros switched to shaped skis...
...Miller says he has got a grip on other variables in skiing as well. "It's not about controlling aggression; it's about getting everything else in the right line," he explains, meaning things like equipment, fitness (he blew out a knee last season) and start position--the higher the better, and the better you ski, the higher the start position you get. "There are people who can make a mistake and stay on the course and finish 15th," he says. Why bother? "For me and a lot of the other top guys, we don't make those kinds...