L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

So he has started the season with not just a win but a crushing victory.  Samuel Bode Miller, or Bode Miller to the ski world, was very humble about the win yet also very focused on how he had achieved it. "Come November and the margin will not be as great as the others will be more on top of their game, I am on top of mine at the moment!"

Miller went to Solden having won there last year on Rossignol skis and his trusty Nordica boots.  This year it is all change as he has moved onto the Atomic brand for his skis, boots and bindings.  "If you saw me win here last year, the only way to balance was to stand much further forward.  This year with the Atomic I can stand in the middle of the ski, I have a higher hip and lower chest control.  The balance is no change but it appears different," was how Miller summed it up. 

Miller has a history of having the skis redesigned for him.  When he was interviewed in January by Racer Ready, he said that he liked to work with the manufacturers in designing the skis.  Such is his understanding and feel for skis he has worked closely with K2, Fischer, Rossignol and now Atomic.  The ski he uses is not the same ski as the rest of the Atomic racers use.  There are subtle differences in its construction that allow Miller to get the best out of it.  Miller has for instance, a softer tip than the ski used by Maier.

Miller's biggest advantage however is not in the equipment he uses (though this in itself is a factor in his power down the course) but in the way he focuses on the race.  A very good golfer, Miller applies the same process as when he is hitting the golf ball to his racing.  Miller argues that if you focused on the course the whole way around and not on anything else you would be mentally knackered.  What Miller finds works for him is to focus intently on the shot his about to play for 3 - 4 seconds before playing it, then focuses on the swing before chatting and relaxing as he plays his round.  For his ski racing, Miller shuts everything else out of his mind when he goes into the start hut.  By the time he is at the wand he is focused on one thing and one thing only: getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. Style means nothing, pure speed counts.

Sometimes Miller uses music to prep him for a race yet the tunes he chooses vary from race to race depending on his feelings.  From mellow music to Guns and Roses, he has over 5,000 tunes in his I-pod to choose from depending on his mood!

At the post race press conference, it was not long before the topic of conversation swung to politics and whether he would be voting.  As one of New Hampshire's favourite sons, Miller wanted to help the campaign he felt was the lesser of two evils and had hoped to help swing the New Hampshire vote by standing on a platform with Democratic hopeful, John Kerry.  Schedules and timings meant that it did not come to be.

Making his second successive trip to the top step of the podium in Solden, Miller was quick to stop a journalist when asked the same question about how this fitted into the plans for the season by a journalist for the second year. "As I said last year," Miller responded clearly frustrated by the question before continuing that it was only one race. Miller likes his peace and quiet and between runs likes to spend time focusing on the next run.  Slightly irritated by the constant intrusion by the press wanting their pound of flesh from him, Miller just blocked it all out and got on with the job in hand, winning in the Austrians backyard!

Whether Miller can continue with this level throughout the whole season remains to be seen.  What is definite is that he won would ease.  As with Paerson yesterday, the rest of the season will be long for those not prepared to try and work out how they can claw back the advantage held by Anja Paerson and Bode Miller.

Channel 4 start coverage of the skiing on November 21 with the BBC sharing rights for the Austrian races and exclusively covering the World Championships in February.