American alpine ace Bode Miller, 27, added 80 points to his World Cup overall lead by finishing second in Tuesday's giant slalom before 15,000 fans at Adelboden, Switz.
Miller, going into the toughest part of the World Cup tour the next two weeks, has a 298-point lead over Benjamin Raich of Austria. Miller also leads the giant slalom and super giant slalom standings, and is second in the downhill ranks.
Here are current men's standings: 1—Bode Miller (U.S.) 988. 2—Benjamin Raich (Austria) 690. 3—Hermann Maier (Austria) 551. 4—Michael Walchhofer (Aust.) 541. 5—Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 436.
Miller tops the GS standings 340-302 over Canada's Thomas Grandi. In DH, Walchhofer has 331 points and Miller 318.
Next up is the 75th Lauberhorn, longest downhill on the tour, in Switzerland. The Wengen DH/SL/Combined is Jan. 14-16, then it's on to Kitzbuehel, Austria for the 65th Hahnenkamm downhill, super giant slalom and slalom Jan. 21-23.
One of the favorites leading the improving U.S. women into the 2005 World Alpine Ski Championships in Italy Jan. 29 will be 20-year-old Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo.
Kildow leads the women's DH standings 275-265 over Hilde Gerg of Germany, after four events. Kildow was second and fourth in last week's back-to-back DHs on the world course at Santa Caterina, Italy.
Here are the current women's overall standings: 1—Tanja Poutiainen (Finland) 706. 2—Janica Kostelic (Croatia) 613. 3—Reigning World Cup queen Anja Paerson (Sweden) 579. 7—Kildow 435.
In the other two women's races last week, Kristina Koznick of Minnesota placed second in Sunday's Santa Caterina SL and Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Ca. was fourth in Saturday's GS.
The women will have four speed races—two SGs and two DHs—at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Jan. 12-16.
