CARRABASSETT VALLEY – As he stood in the finish corral after his second giant slalom run of the day Tuesday afternoon, a pleased Jimmy Cochran smiled, assessed his performance at the TD Banknorth U.S. Alpine Championships, and allowed that no matter how well he had skied, it may not have mattered.

“It was Bode, you know,” Cochran said with a shake of his head after finishing second. “He’s just so fast. That’s Bode.”

Bode, of course, is Bode Miller, one of the world’s best (and lately, most controversial) skiers.

And on a third straight day featuring chamber-of-commerce weather – temps in the high 40s with not a cloud to be found – Miller dominated the field at Sugarloaf/USA en route to his eighth national title.

Not that it was easy, mind you. And not that Miller didn’t provide a few tense moments for the fans at his home mountain.

Miller made a spectacular recovery from a near spill during his first run and still finished that race just four-hundredths of a second behind the front-running Cochran.

And in the afternoon session, Miller skied more than a second faster than anyone else down a sun-softened Narrow Gauge course.

Miller’s combined time was 2 minutes, 8.15 seconds. Cochran, from Keene, N.H., was second in 2:09.23, and Chip Knight of Stowe, Vt., took third in 2:09.75. Olympic slalom gold medalist Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah, made the most spectacular save of the day just before the finish line of his second run and was fourth in 2:10.32.

Miller’s scare came about halfway through the first run, just as he came into sight of the finish line.

“I got a little bit messed up on the flat there before you come into view and went on my hip and then when I stuck my skis back in, I kind of shot myself out toward that big crowd of people up there,” Miller said. “It just sort of killed all my speed.”

It also alarmed more than a few spectators, who found the nation’s top skier hurtling through the air directly at them.

“It wasn’t that close, but everybody, they sort of had that look, you know, where they all squatted down for a second,” Miller said. “Because at first I went down on my hip and I was going to slide into the fence on the left side, but then I got my feet under me and shot across real straight at them. I think it was more a surprise [to them] than anything else.”

Miller said conditions in the first run were perfect but had deteriorated by the time racers lined up again at 12:30 p.m.

That changed his tactics a bit, but not the result. Miller skied a workmanlike, trouble-free run and clinched a comfortable victory. After media interviews and signing autographs, he provided another photo opportunity for fans when he headed down the slope to the base area on one ski.

“Actually the skiing in the second run wasn’t as good, but I didn’t have any mistakes,” Miller said. “Tactically, I didn’t take as much risk. The course was bumpier.”

Cochran was pleased with his effort, but said he expected Miller to post another speedy run.

“I thought it was pretty good. Definitely the best GS skiing I’ve done in a while. I felt pretty good,” Cochran said. “Bode, he’s just in his own world when he wants to be.”

The finish was Cochran’s third second-place effort of the U.S. Alpine Championships, and may be a result of changes he has made late in the season. On Monday Cochran said he had worked on changing his mindset and trying to make better decisions on the course.

Miller said that would continue to be the key to Cochran’s improvement.

“He’s got to figure it out with his head. He’s gonna be outstanding. He has the potential to be really dominant on the tech side, and maybe on the speed side, too, if he wants to,” Miller said.

“He could really be a guy who’s untouchable. He just doesn’t seem to be able to really put it together to even ski the way he did today in the World Cup as often as he should,” Miller said. “He can’t figure out where to take the risk and where not to.”

Miller said he knew he had to ski solidly in his second round in order to win, with several strong U.S. Ski Team members lurking.

One of those, the 21-year-old Ligety, provided the most entertaining moment of the day when he recovered from a fall just two gates from the finish. Ligety skied wide of one gate on one foot, then vaulted back the other direction – still off balance – on the other foot before clearing that gate and making it to the finish line.

“I kind of went a little too straight and got launched out of the course a little bit,” Ligety said. “But it wasn’t too big of a deal. I kind of pull moves off like that on a regular basis. I’m used to having to scramble back on the course.”

Regardless, Ligety said, he wouldn’t have made it to the podium, thanks to the efforts of Miller, Cochran, and Knight.

“[Even] if I didn’t make it [to the finish] I would have gotten beat by those guys anyways,” Ligety said. “It made no difference, positioning-wise.”

The U.S. Alpine Championships wrap up today with the women’s giant slalom, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

AP PHOTO BY PAT WELLENBACH

Bode Miller signs autographs for fans Tuesday after winning the men’s giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Sugarloaf/USA.