Miller credits win on fall

"I pretty much knew at the start of the race that I was going to crash at the finish," Miller told reporters after picking up his fourth World Cup win of the season, and the 25th of his career.

Miller said he had decided to go flat out coming through the course's final s-shaped turns and over the last jump despite knowing that it would throw him directly into a large dip in front of the finish.

"You can ski slowly through the final (turns) and stay standing but I wanted to carry my speed. I knew that would mean ending up all the way down in the compression and that if I tried to match my body angle to the pitch I could go flat on my face.

"So I went off the bump (leaning) back a bit and just kind of sat down. It felt fine."

Miller has earned a reputation for crazy stunts in the past -- most notably when he lost a ski during the downhill stage of a world championship combined race, but decided to complete the course on one leg.

His apparent decision to include a fall in his pre-race tactics met with similar incredulity on Saturday, with his fellow skiers seemingly in no hurry to copy Miller's approach.

"I think if you have to take that kind of fall to win, then I don't agree with that kind of thinking," said Switzerland's Didier Cuche after finishing the race upright, and in second place behind Miller.

"I'm ready to take the risk of falling but I'm not ready to plan doing it beforehand and risk getting injured.

"If it was Bode's absolute plan to fall like that, then all I can say is he was lucky and I just hope he stays healthy until the end of the season."

U.S. head coach Phil McNichol was treating Miller's claim with a little more scepticism.

"Maybe it had been in the back of his mind that he might have to fall and then it became a bigger thing in his mind after it actually happened," McNichol told Reuters.

"I doubt he really thought about it until he was on the course and feeling fatigued and then just thought 'I'm going really fast, let's give it everything and who cares if I fall?'"

Italy's Peter Fill finished Saturday's race in third place, a distant 1.47 seconds behind Miller, after taking a similar spill on the final section of the sapping 4.5-km long course.

The Italian said tactics had played no part in his own tumble.

"My energy was just completely gone at the end," said Fill. "That was the only reason."