BORMIO, Italy, March 14, 2008 (AFP) - American Ted Ligety joined in the celebrations of compatriots Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn by claiming his very own World Cup title here on Friday.

Ligety, the Olympic combined champion, claimed the men's giant slalom crown after stylishly winning the final race of the season ahead of Austria's Benjamin Raich and France's Cyprien Richard.

The fight for the title went right to the wire after Ligety, who led Raich by a mere 27 points going into the final race, finished behind the Austrian in the first leg, won by American Bode Miller.

However the 23-year-old Ligety produced a champion's performance in the second leg to take first place.

"I was fully charged and taking a lot of risks in the second leg. I was lucky to have comoe through," said a delighted Ligety, who was assured the title when Raich failed to push him off top spot Ligety.

"It's pretty unbelievable. I wouldn't have wanted to win it without a good fight, and today we had a good fight."

Miller, skiing last, failed to finish his race. He was already officially assured of the overall crown after main rival Didier Cuche ruled himself out of Saturday's final race of the season, the slalom.

Ligety ended up with a giant slalom points total of 485, a 47-point lead on Raich's 438.

His second giant win of the season, after a timely success in Slovenia last week which gave him 100 points, means he helped continue the United States' domination of the World Cup titles this season.

Miller and Lindsey Vonn both claimed the overall titles in the men's and women's competitions respectively, with Vonn also cruising to the downhill title, which she won two weeks ago.

Miller, 30, had secured the combined crown over a month ago.

Ligety has distant dreams of one day emulating Miller, who has just about mastered all of skiing's four disiplines to boost his chances of winning the coveted overall title.

But for the moment the blond-haired skier from Park City, who spends the winter in nearby Trento where he likes to "ski off cliffs" in his leisure time, was content with getting a chance to brandish his own star spangled banner.

"Watching Lindsey Vonn this year totally dominating everybody in the downhill was cool," said Ligety.

"And to watch Bode have the second part of the year he did, after a lot of people wrote him off, has been amazing to watch.

"What I did is nothing compared to what Lindsey and Bode achieved."

Asked when he would start thinking of an overall crown, Ligety admitted he would first have to think about putting on some weight with a dedicated training programme.

"Yeah, about 20 kilos down the road! I'm definitely looking to be a better glider, and I hope to be working on my speed," Ligety added.

"But to challenge for the overall you have to be strong in three events, so for now it's going to be tough for me.

"Maybe in the years to come I'll start racing more downhills and super-Gs, but for me it's really important to also concentrate on my slalom."

Vonn had all but assured her overall crown on Thursday when she took a 197-point lead on Maria Riesch of Germany ahead of the two women's slaloms.

She was officially crowned after she finished in the slalom's top 15, where she gained enough points to keep Riesch at bay ahead of Saturday's giant.

The German, in the end, dropped to third overall after Nicole Hosp of Austria, last year's overall champion, finished fourth in the slalom.

Vonn had an uncharacteristically strong slalom performance, finishing 11th with the fastest second leg performance.

"To win the overall World Cup at this age is a lot more than I could ever have hoped for," said 23-year-old Vonn, who grew up inspired by the achievements of US great Picabo Street.