ST. ANTON, Austria (AP) – Bode Miller stared at the scoreboard in disbelief.

It had been two years since he won a World Cup slalom event, and Miller did not know how to react. After a few moments, Miller finally pumped his fists and poles into the air while “Born in the U.S.A.” blared from the loudspeakers.

Miller covered the Sonnenwiese course in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 34.60 seconds Sunday, finishing 0.95 seconds ahead of Finland’s Kalle Palander. The win also boosted Miller to third in the overall standings.

“I started to sound like a broken record, telling the press my slalom wasn’t so bad, the equipment wasn’t so bad. Everything worked, it was just one thing or another,” Miller said. “This could have happened last

year.

“But it’s true that since I made the latest development in my skis, I’ve been feeling much more consistent. Since then I’ve been in the top five in every slalom except Wengen where I crashed. There have been spurts of great skiing, which keep me going.”

Palander, the defending World Cup champion in the event and winner of three slaloms this season, finished in 1:35.55. Austria’s Mario Matt was third in 1:35.69, moving up from 18th after the first run.

Rainer Schoenfelder retained the World Cup slalom lead with 505 points after finishing fourth in 1:35.73. Palander is second with 455, while Miller is in fifth with 340. Only two slaloms remain.

In the overall World Cup standings, Miller now 984 points for third place, one point behind Austrian Benjamin Raich. Hermann Maier leads with 1,054 points. Defending overall champion Stephan Eberharter is fourth with 961.

Despite finishing second to Miller, Palander still has hopes to win the World Cup slalom title.

“The slalom standings are wide open now,” Palander said. “I’m only 50 points behind now. I’m back in business.”

The last time Miller posted a slalom win was in January 2002, in Schladming, Austria. He has had two giant slalom wins this season and twice reached the podium in slalom but did not win until Sunday.

After the race, Miller stood on the podium for the Star-Spangled Banner, then opened a bottle of Austrian sparkling wine and laughed as he sprayed it on himself before drinking a few sips.

“I just pushed the limits of the sport. I really pushed my limits the second run,” Miller said. “It’s nice to put together two consistent runs without any huge errors to drag me down.”

Miller, one of the circuit’s rare competitors who skis in all four disciplines, entered the season targeting the overall title. He lost the crystal globe last year to Eberharter by 233 points because his energy lagged at the end of the season.

“I’m sticking with my prediction that any four of us has an excellent chance for the overall,” Miller said. “You can’t count Eberharter out. He’s one of those guys like Hermann … both are capable of pulling out great skiing when they need to, when they are under pressure.”

AP-ES-02-15-04 1513EST