Alpine skiing-American Cochran-Siegle channels Miller's 2005 heroics in bid for gold

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 5 : American Ryan Cochran-Siegle says he will watch re-runs of compatriot Bode Miller's 2005 world championships heroics down the Stelvio for inspiration as he prepares for Saturday's Olympic men's downhill on the iconic Italian slope.

Miller blasted to victory in the downhill and super-G races 21 years ago but in the downhill section of the combined event his ski flew off after landing a jump near the top and he famously made it almost to the bottom on his remaining ski.

His victory on the Stelvio in 2007 remains the last time an American won a downhill in Bormio - a wait the 33-year-old Cochran-Siegle would dearly love to end this week.

"I haven't watched that in a while. It's funny. I was actually talking about it this morning, saying how Bodie's 2005 run, everyone remembers when his ski came off in the combined, but it was actually the day before when he won the world champs downhill," Cochran-Siegle said on Thursday.

"That (downhill) was like actually one of those legendary runs. So I'll probably have to go back and watch it. Bodie as an athlete, especially as an American man, he set such a precedent for just reaching for the ultimate level.

"I always grew up idolising him. I got to overlap him a little bit when I was super young on the ski team and he was still racing. And he's definitely, I mean, he's a personality. He is so athletic, such a unique vision too."

Miller is the most successful American male skier of all time and arguably the best all-rounder the world has seen with 33 World Cup wins spread across every discipline, four world titles and an Olympic super combined gold in 2010.

"I think you can still see that impact even today. I just listened to Mikaela (Shiffrin's) podcast with Bodie a