Val Gardena, Italy » With Bode Miller leading the way, U.S. skiers dominated a World Cup race like never before. Miller now wonders if his decision to race independently quickened the development of some of his former teammates.

Miller finished second to Austria's Michael Walchhofer on Saturday in the classic Saslong downhill. The New Hampshire skier was 0.38 seconds behind the winning time of 1 minute, 50.57 seconds.

Miller led a record contingent of five Americans in the top 10. He also revived the defense of his overall World Cup title, moving up to ninth in the standings from 13th.

"A lot of the things I was bringing up over the last 10 years have been changed and improved, and have allowed the guys to have the program that they have now," Miller said.

Marco Sullivan of Tahoe City, Calif., took fourth for the U.S.; Erik Fisher of Middleton, Idaho, was a career-best seventh; 2006 winner Steven Nyman of Provo finished ninth; and TJ Lanning of Park City placed 10th.

Women's super-G

Swiss teenager Lara Gut put on a breakthrough performance to win a super-G race for her first World Cup victory, while Park City's Lindsey Vonn maintained the overall lead despite skiing off course at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Skiing first on a course shortened by fog, Gut finished in 57.38 seconds, 0.63 ahead of Switzerland's Fabienne Suter. Italy's Nadia Fanchini was third, trailing Gut by 0.87. Julia Mancuso was the top American, finishing 13th.

Cross country

Ola Vigen Hattestad won his third World Cup cross-country sprint race in three starts this season and took the overall lead in the standings, at Duesseldorf, Germany. In the women's sprint, Petra Majdic of Slovenia got her third win of the season.

Nordic combined

American Bill Demong won a Nordic combined event at Ramsau, Austria, for his first World Cup title of the season and fourth overall.