Bode Miller's farewell to the world championships on Sunday perfectly summed up the American's fortnight in Val d'Isere.
"I seem to ski well but not see the finish line," the gifted but erratic 31-year-old said after a mistake halfway down the first run of the men's slalom ruined his last hopes of a medal.
Miller's make-or-break style obviously did not fit in with the steep Bellevarde piste used for the championships and he was unable to complete three of the five events he entered.
Only in the speed disciplines did he salvage some pride, finishing 12th in the super-G and eighth in the downhill.
After the opening super-G, he criticised the course, saying it favoured 'conservative' skiing.
Hard luck struck in the downhill, which he started when visibility was at its lowest because of fog.
Then came the super-combined, giant slalom and slalom, all of which he failed to finish.
"The results were disappointing but the skiing was not," he said on Sunday, at the end of his third successive major championships without a medal.
Miller's last medals date back to the Bormio worlds in 2005, when he won the super-G and downhill. His jinx at major championships since might have prompted comments earlier this week that he might not show up at next year's Vancouver Olympics.
"I'm not decided one way or another. I just think it's unlikely that I would go (to Vancouver). It could happen," Miller said in an interview to universalsports.com on Wednesday.
After his disappointing result in the downhill, Miller, who has refused here to comment on the interview, had said of the Bellevarde course: "I know I can be the fastest on this hill even if I haven't proved it yet."
Unfortunately he did not prove it at all. After bowing out of the slalom, the 2005 and 2008 overall World Cup winner spent more than half an hour sitting on the side of Bellevarde, halfway down the course, as if pondering what went wrong.
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