The N.H. skier easily wins his first super giant slalom title.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) – Wind, rain and a tricky Whiteface Mountain course were not enough to slow Bode Miller.

Miller easily won his first U.S. Alpine National Championships super giant slalom title Thursday in a race that 47 competitors failed to finish.

Skiing first after a two-hour delay caused by a steady downpour, Miller traversed Whiteface Mountain in 1 minute, 18.99 seconds. Jakub Fiala was second, .31 behind, and defending national Super G champ Marco Sullivan and Scott Macartney finished tied for third, another .20 back, at 1:19.50

The rain delay forced organizers to postpone the women’s Super G until Friday, but the men were given the go-ahead at about midday, even though rain was pelting the course when Miller took off.

As usual, he was undaunted.

“It was windy when I left, but it wasn’t as bad you’d think,” said Miller, who finished fourth in Wednesday’s downhill. “And the rain beads off (the visor) pretty good, it’s so fast up there. The visibility was good. You could see the snow really well, it was surprising. And there’s a wicked tailwind blowing straight down the hill. I love this. It’s fun.” Not for Erik Schlopy, Thomas Vonn, Steven Nyman and the 44 other racers who skied off course and did not finish. Schlopy, bronze medalist in the giant slalom at the World Championships last month in St. Moritz, saw his day end at the fourth gate.

“There was a three-gate corridor, and then a big turn,” Schlopy said. “There was just a lot of speed. I wasn’t really aware there was going to be that much speed coming in.”

Nyman, coming off a victory in the downhill, had trouble with his line.

“It was just rough,” Nyman said. “You could see in the rain, but I just didn’t have the right line. The snow was kind of peely and I just went really straight and missed a gate.”

Miller, who finished second to Austria’s Stephan Eberharter in the World Cup overall standings, won his first Super G title at nationals. The only race he hasn’t won is the downhill.

“It was challenging, and with the snow conditions and visibility it was doubly challenging,” Miller said. “I think a lot of the guys just weren’t used to that. We had a lot of that in the World Cup this year, so I was prepared for it.”

Fiala, who was seventh last year in the discipline at nationals, acknowledged he made a crucial error.

“I made the mistake of trying to wipe my goggles halfway down, right before the jump,” he said. “That definitely cost me some time because it actually made it worse for a few gates until it blew off again. But it was the same for the top guys.

“Anyone who went fast today was pretty impressive. Bode’s obviously had a fantastic season, and to be second behind him is not that bad.”

The nationals provide junior racers a chance to race against the top skiers and an opportunity to impress the coaches. Jeremy Transue, of Hunter, N.Y. was the top junior finisher in seventh, in a race in which only 24 skiers completed the course.

“It was a tough day, especially for those younger kids,” Fiala said.

“But I think it’s a good wake-up call for everybody. You’ve got to be prepared.”

AP-ES-03-20-03 1844EST