On pace to be the leader, Bode Miller stumbled and went sprawling into the snow.

In the midst of a fast run, Ted Ligety straddled a gate and was knocked off course.

Like that, a seemingly good day for the Americans turned sour.

Instead, it was the Swiss who stole the show as Carlo Janka won a World Cup super combined event Friday, with countryman Didier Defago taking second.

Janka had a total time of 2 minutes, 32.26 seconds for the downhill and slalom runs, nearly a half-second better than Defago. Natko Zrncic-Dim of Croatia took third.

Defago led after the downhill portion of the event, but the Americans remained in the thick of things with Andrew Weibrecht in fifth and Miller seventh.

And while Ligety was in 24th place after the downhill, he was heading into one of his better disciplines.

There would be no U.S. skier for the locals to cheer for on the podium on this day, though: Weibrecht turned in the top U.S. finish, 19th place.

"In the downhill, the three guys gave great effort," U.S. Ski Team men's coach Sasha Rearick said. "They skied tactically smart."

Then things fell apart in the slalom. Miller was cruising along _ eyeing a possible podium finish _ when he leaned too far forward and lost his balance, going face-first into the course.

"Bode's still working on his skiing," Rearick said. "He hasn't had a whole lot of volume so he's still getting it ... In general, he's making steps each day, he gave good effort today, so I'm proud of him."

Given the frigid weather conditions _ single digits at the start house _ and grippy nature of the snow, Miller elected to pull out skis that he hasn't used in a while for the downhill. He knew this pair could handle this type of snow.

After all, he used them when he won in Wengen, Switzerland, a few years back.

"The snow is perfectly smooth, it's just too grippy," Miller said after the downhill. "Your ski hooks up and releases, hooks up and releases, even though it's smooth. It just starts its own little chatter. It's unusual it happens on a race ski on a buff course like that. I switched to a ski that I knew wouldn't do that."

Although Miller felt strong churning down the mountain, he said he wants to increase his fitness level after getting a late start on the season. He said it would've helped toward the end of the downhill course.