Samuel Bode Miller ( ; born October 12, 1977) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist, a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, and the most successful male American alpine ski racer of all time. He is also considered one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time with 33 race victories and being one of five men (and last to date) to win World Cup events in all five disciplines. He is the only skier with five or more victories in each discipline. In 2008, Miller and Lindsey Vonn won the overall World Cup titles for the first U.S. sweep in 25 years.
Miller won six medals in the Winter Olympics, the most of any U.S. skier − two silvers (giant slalom and combined) in Salt Lake City 2002, a gold (super combined), a silver (super-G) and a bronze (downhill) in Vancouver 2010 and a bronze (super-G) in Sochi 2014. Miller is one of 5 skiers who have won Olympic medals in 4 different disciplines, matching the feats of Kjetil André Aamodt and female racers Anja Pärson, Janica Kostelić and Katja Seizinger.
Miller ended his career with six discipline World Cup titles and also won four World Championships titles in four different disciplines (giant slalom, combined, super-G and downhill) and one silver medal in super-G. While his skiing career was coming to an end, Miller had switched his attention and investment to horse racing. He officially retired from ski racing in October 2017.
During and after his ski career, Miller has been involved in multiple businesses as a founder, strategic advisor and investor. During his career, Miller was the initial investor in lifestyle and nutrition brand Onnit in 2010, a company founded by his close friend Aubrey Marcus. In 2020, Miller co-founded SKEO, a wearable ski tracking app company. In January 2021, Miller joined the Board of Directors of Opex Technologies, an IT-company focused on advising, implementing, and supporting technology transformation projects. Most recently, in December 2021, Miller joined Alpine-X, developers of year-round indoor snowsports resorts, as an investor and Chief Innovation Officer, alongside his business partner Andrew Wirth who joined as a Strategic Advisor.
Early years Born in Easton, New Hampshire, to Jo Kenney and Woody Miller, Miller grew up in nearby Franconia, a small community in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains that comprises the Cannon Mountain Ski Area. His family, including older sister Kyla, and younger brother Chelone, lived on of land in a forest, where his parents celebrated solstices, in a log cabin without electricity or indoor plumbing. He was raised a vegetarian. He was homeschooled until the third grade, but after his parents divorced, he began attending public school. He applied for and got a scholarship to the Carrabassett Valley Academy, a ski racing academy in Maine. His mother's parents owned and started the Tamarack Tennis Camp, and he has played tennis and soccer since childhood.
Miller first gained widespread recognition after winning two silver medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in the giant slalom and combined events, though he had been known to skiing fans since he burst onto the international scene as an 18-year-old in 1996. Miller is known for his reckless style, often risking crashes to increase his chances of winning a given race; in his book, Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun, Miller stated that his goal as a skier was not to win medals, but rather to ski "as fast as the natural universe will allow." In 2006, Miller also became famous for his reclusive (but outspoken) personality and his attention-getting statements.
Ski racing career
The Beginnings (1998–2001) Miller not only first appeared in the World Cup during the 1998 season but also represented the United States in the 1998 Nagano Olympics, competing in both of the technical disciplines (giant slalom and slalom). In 1999, he also competed in super-G (which is considered a speed discipline, not a technical one) and represented the U.S. in all three events at the World Ski Championships at Beaver Creek, with a best finish of 8th in slalom. He finally achieved a podium in a giant slalom at Val d'Isère on December 17, 2000 (placing third), but then only competed in super-G at the 2001 World Ski Championships; he crashed during the downhill portion of the combined and tore knee ligaments, which ended his competition.
Double Silver (2002) During this season, Miller began regularly competing in downhill, making him a five-event skier on the World Cup circuit, although he was still considered a technical specialist. Miller won his first World Cup race on December 29, 2001, taking the giant slalom at Val-d'Isère, and then followed it up the next day with another win in the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio. He would go on to win two more slalom races in January 2002, along with a pair of silver medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in February, thus establishing himself as the top racer on the U.S. Ski Team.
Miller won his first ever Olympic medal on February 13, in the combined event. He was 15th after the downhill portion losing 2.44 seconds to Kjetil André Aamodt. He then put a remarkable second run of the slalom portion to finish second overall just 0.28 behind Aamodt. Later on Miller won a second silver medal, this time in the giant slalom where he lost only to Stephan Eberharter of Austria. Miller was on a verge of winning medals in all disciplines he had entered at the Olympics, while he was second after first run of the slalom race. At the starting gate before his final run Miller had already a huge advantage of 1.79 seconds over then leading Sébastien Amiez. Instead of having a careful run to secure at least another silver medal, Miller decided to push for a gold. The tactics resulted in a fall and missed gate, which caused him to finish far behind the medal positions.
This was his final season on Fischer skis; he switched to Rossignol following the season's completion.
Becoming a World Cup Champion (2003–2005) Miller challenged for the 2003 World Cup overall title but fell just short, finishing second to Stephan Eberharter of Austria. At the 2003 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Miller won three medals: gold in giant slalom and combined, and silver in super-G. He also won two other giant slaloms during the season.
In the 2004 season, Miller won World Cup titles in two disciplines: giant slalom and combined, but placed fourth in the competition for the overall title. He won six World Cup races: three giant slaloms, two combineds and one slalom. After the season, Miller switched to Atomic skis.
Miller won his first overall World Cup title in 2005, defeating Austrians Benjamin Raich and Hermann Maier. He made history early in the season by winning at least one race in each of the four standard World Cup disciplines: slalom, giant slalom, super-G and downhill. In winning a slalom in Sestriere on December 13, he joined Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, who had been the first man to accomplish this feat in 1989. Miller accomplished the feat in less time than any previous ski racer, male or female; the victory was his sixth of the season after only ten races. At the 2005 World Championships in Bormio, Italy, he won two gold medals, in super-G and downhill. In the downhill portion of the combined, he lost a ski 16 seconds into the race, but decided to continue down the course nevertheless at speeds up to 83 km/h on one ski, before sliding out near the bottom nearly two minutes later.
Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics (2006)
Miller finished in 5th in the downhill, and was disqualified – while in first place at the time – during the second leg of the combined event, failed to finish the super-G, tied for 6th in the giant slalom, and had another DNF after missing a gate in the first run of the slalom.
Independent World Cup Champion (2007–2009) Miller had four first-place finishes (two downhills and two super-Gs) in the early going of the 2007 World Cup. For the season, Miller finished 4th overall and won the super-G title. On May 12, 2007, Miller announced that he was leaving the U.S. Ski Team. He followed the precedent set by slalom skier Kristina Koznick, who left the U.S. Ski Team following the 2000 season and raced the next six years for the U.S. as an independent.
In 2008 Miller clinched his second overall championship at the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy. He missed a chance to also win the season's downhill title when bad weather prevented the season's last race from being run. Miller got his first win of the season at the Stelvio downhill in Bormio in December. On January 13, he won for the second year in a row the legendary Wengen downhill, matching Phil Mahre as the most successful American skier with 27 World Cup victories. On January 20, he broke this record by winning the Hahnenkamm combined event at Kitzbühel. On January 27, he won the first super combined in his career in Chamonix and took the lead in the World Cup standings. On February 3, he won the super combined in Val d'Isère, France, and took the combined title. On March 1, Bode got his sixth win of the season at Kvitfjell, Norway, cementing his lead in the overall standings and closing to 5 points on Didier Cuche in downhill. At the end of this impressive season he was crowned overall champion.
Miller responded to his World Cup success in 2008 with the worst season of his professional career, leading some to speculate that he might be "burned out."Tony Chamberlain, Vonn and Miller taking divergent trails, The Boston Globe, February 26, 2009. Miller failed to win a race for the first time in eight years and had only two official podium finishes, both seconds in downhill, to show for his season. Miller suffered a torn ligament in his left ankle in a December fall at Beaver Creek, which may have been a factor in his performance. He took a four-week break from competition in February and March, the first World Cup races that he had failed to start in three years, and missed the end of the World Cup season, although he still had a chance to win the season's downhill title."Miller hints at retirement as season ends", CNN.com, March 4, 2009. He said that "the fire goes away after a while", and he hinted at retirement.
Reunited for Olympic Triple (2010)
After returning to the U.S. Ski Team, Miller missed much of the early part of the 2010 season due to an ankle sprain which he suffered during a volleyball game with other members of the team. However, he returned by winning a World Cup super-combined event in Wengen on January 15, 2010, for his first victory in nearly two years.
He made the U.S. team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in late 2009 and was selected to compete in all five events, despite his lack of training. In his first race, after several delays due to warm weather and poor snow conditions, Miller won a bronze medal in the downhill, the first American to win an Olympic medal in downhill since Tommy Moe won gold in 1994. Miller's time was 1:54.40, nine hundredths of a second behind gold medalist Didier Défago, and two hundredths behind Aksel Lund Svindal, who took the silver; the time difference between the gold and bronze medals was the smallest in Olympic downhill history. He then won a silver in the super-G, giving him four Olympic medals, more than any other American alpine racer. On February 21, 2010, he won his first Olympic gold medal in the super combined. After the downhill portion of the race, Miller was in seventh place, but finished third in the slalom portion, giving him a total time of 2:44.92 to finish first overall. Miller then failed to finish both the giant slalom and the slalom, and took the rest of the season off due to continuing problems with his ankle injury.
Last victory and a break (2011–2013)