Speed Demon

By Andrew Purvis/Kitzbuhel

Bode Miller may be the most popular American in Europe. Granted, that's not a crowded competition. But on the hotly contested World Cup Alpine-skiing circuit, the laid-back Miller is a one-man diplomatic mission, even as he routinely beats the schuss out of Europe's best skiers. Endowed with boyish good looks, an easygoing manner and a breathtaking style, Miller has won a huge fan following in ski-mad Europe. From Alta Badia, Italy, to Schladming, Austria, the man has serious teen appeal. BODE YOU ARE SO SEXY! read banners at a recent event in Austria, where as many as 70,000 fans may show up to watch a day of racing.

Heading into the world championships under way in Bormio, Italy, Miller ranked first in the overall World Cup standings, piling up an impressive lead over Austrians Benny Raich and Hermann Maier. At the worlds, Miller has brightened his stardom in typical falling-off-the-planet fashion. During the super-G--the second fastest race after the downhill--Miller took a jump off-kilter at 65 m.p.h., struggled to stay on his skis and still won the race by a nail-biting margin. In the combined downhill and slalom, he lost a ski--and the race--at the top of the downhill course but amazed the crowd by running the gates on his remaining ski. In the downhill last Saturday, he kept both skis on and won a second gold, beating teammate Daron Rahlves by almost half a second. "Miller is a Bewegungstalent," says an admiring Toni Giger, head coach of the powerful Austrian team. That's the German expression for exceptional agility. Or maybe it means "That dude is whack." "He takes the full risk," says Giger. "But then he shows he can correct his mistakes. That is his strength." It is not an approach, Giger hastens to add, that he would recommend. "It's very dangerous."

Miller is singlehandedly lifting the traditionally underperforming U.S. ski team to a level not seen since Phil and Steve Mahre topped the rankings in the early 1980s. Miller has posted wins in all four disciplines on the circuit: the high-speed events, which include the downhill and the super-G, as well as the more precision-oriented giant slalom and slalom events. The U.S. team has had 12 podium finishes this World Cup season. Miller owns 10 of them. (Rahlves got the other two.) Says U.S. head coach Phil McNichol: "He walks out the door, and he is good. He doesn't necessarily work harder; he's just naturally better than everybody else out there. He's inspiring."

Arms windmilling, poles in the air, Miller often looks out of control--and often is. That's one reason why he has finished only one of seven slalom races this year. When showing videos of Miller to other racers, McNichol will cover up the volatile upper half of his skier's body and show just the feet to prove Miller is properly balanced over his skis. "It is not exactly ski-instructor style," says McNichol.

Not much about Bode (Bo-dee) Miller is conventional. Raised in a mountainside cabin in Franconia, N.H., that lacked electricity and plumbing, he was home-schooled until he was 8 by hippie parents. His father Woody was on the ski patrol and sold energy snacks to scrape by. His mother Jo came from a family of racers. As a young boy he spent nearly every winter day on nearby Cannon Mountain. His mother dropped him off at the base of the hill, and he would find his own ride home. In the summer, tennis gave him agility and soccer a great feel for his feet, which he says is one of his skiing strengths. He started racing young. "It's a very elemental sport," Miller told TIME at a recent race stop in Kitzbuehel, Austria. "You're using just gravity to get down the mountain and trying to cut down on friction and wind resistance and air. It's pretty pure."

His unorthodox style is the logical result of trying to ski the straightest possible line down the hill. Instead of using sweeping arced turns through the gates, he cuts shorter, sharper-radius turns. "Challenging the line that way increases the force on your body, and it reacts differently," says McNichol. Although he has been no stranger to the podium over the past four years, Miller burst out of the gates this season. He won four of the first six races, and six of the first 10. While other skiers might take until December to start skiing their best, Miller says, "Four or five days, and I'm there."

As wild and crazy as Miller is on skis, his personality is stubbornly down-to-earth. In the off-season, he goes back to New Hampshire to help out with the kids at his parents' tennis camp. On the World Cup racing circuit in Europe, he drives from alp to alp in a huge RV, the "Bode Mobile." He recently started his own talk show on the Sirius satellite-radio network, on which he can chat about skiing and partying in a "fairly core" way. Despite his growing exposure, Miller says he is not designed for stardom. In fact, the media interviews, the frantic fan adulation and the obligations to sponsors--all of which he lumps together as "distractions" from the ski racing he loves--are beginning to wear thin.

What sets Miller apart, says McNichol, is his "supreme self-confidence; not a cockiness, just a deep rooted belief in himself and his ability." That may explain his popularity. A recent Swiss poll rated Miller the most popular skier on the mountain. He's even appreciated by his rivals. Writing in Sportwoche, an Austrian weekly, slalom ace Rainer Schoenfelder credited Miller and his versatility with keeping media attention on the old-fashioned finesse events like slalom in the X Games era. "Thank God for Bode Miller!" he said. Heading into next year's Olympics in Torino, the U.S. ski team feels exactly the same way. o