Having over 30 years experience coaching alpine skiing, and having now retired to a fairly sedate life watching my son grow up and letting my wife earn the bread, I was a little bit unnerved about the possibility of following the US Men’s Team to New Zealand for their training camp.

I figured I could get a vacation, see the most beautiful place on earth and write my first article all in one trip. I also saw it as a chance to go see the infamous Bode Miller train with his new staff.

Some things became obvious within the US camp while I was down-under: 1. The US boys have their programme running smoothly and it is obvious they mean business. 2. They don’t miss having Mr. Miller around. 3. Their staff are on top of the day to day production of quality training environment that is necessary for long-term success on the grind known as World Cup skiing.

'He (Miller) puts a lot of blame on his equipment when things go poorly and a lot of stock in himself when things go well'


Some things were also obvious in the Miller camp: 1. Miller has little regard for rest and recovery. 2. He is not fast in SL or GS (Norway was crushing him in training as was German Felix Neureuther). The American boys put Mr. Neureuther is his place in training and racing and the Norwegians (minus Aksel Svindal) couldn’t touch them. 3. His staff is enthusiastic but has little success in influencing his decision-making. Which is clearly impetuous and thoughtless. 4. Miller is VERY fast in DH and SG training. 5. He puts a lot of blame on his equipment when things go poorly and a lot of stock in himself when things go well.

While with the US boys in Coronet Peak, I noticed that there was a noticeable calm in the camp. Things flowed from skiing, to conditioning, to meals and meetings with great ease. The USA Sport Science staff were there in support. Providing blood lactate analysis, hydration analysis and blood glucose analysis. All to anticipate fatigue, promote recovery and give the coaches and athletes the feedback they need to maximize their on-snow time in New Zealand.

After a two-day rain storm, the team looked as though it would need to re-evaluate their camp and possibly leave the island. Then, the weather turned for the better, some snow fell and Coronet Peak went into action making snow round the clock to make the training work. It turned out fantastic and the US camp turned to a tremendously positive program due to nine days of excellent training in the second half of the camp. Head Coach McNichol said: “Coronet made this happen. We were stuck, and they pulled through. They are a great group of people here committed to putting a great product on the snow.”

I went to Mt. Hutt and the Treble Cone to check out the Miller program. While Bode was clearly in charge of his segment of the training, the Norwegians controlled his on-hill surfaces and availability. He worked hard and took advantage of what he had. And he was clearly very fast in speed event training. But I can tell you clearly that the Norwegians did not put down the quality of surfaces with the variety of terrain the Americans had.

I asked Neureuther, who was also training with the Norwegians, what he thought of the training. He said: “It has been good, very good. But we are here now at Coronet racing and the Americans have a great program here. Ted looks very good in GS and SL. Very strong.”

World Cuppers Truls Karlsen and Bjarne Solbakken were also present at the races at Coronet. My summary of the Miller camp is that he is clearly running the show. He makes all the calls and the coaches are left to be gate carriers, drill bearers and car drivers. He was demanding of them and critical. Even leaving training one day at Mt. Hutt after one run saying the training was “lame.” The Norwegians each had six runs that day.

While I am positive that Miller will continue to perform well on the World Cup this season, I can see that in the future seasons things could begin to fade. He simply reacts and works off emotion and momentum. He sees no value in what others do for him but is perfectly happy in laying blame in their camp. Eventually, this will come back to bite him. Even the seemingly omnipotent Mr. Miller will not prevent it coming, but his demise will happen sooner than it should.

My advice would be to make amends with the US Ski Team and go back under their umbrella. I am sure my advice would be unwelcome.