Bode Miller became World Cup overall champion after the Swiss team said Didier Cuche, the only man who could catch him, would not race in Saturday's final slalom.

Maverick Miller, who split from the US ski team last year, also claimed the super-combined title in Val D'Isere in February.

Cuche, the downhill champion, made a tactical error in Thursday's super-G by being too cautious in his bid to not crash out and gain points. Instead he finished 16th, one place outside the points.

That meant Miller, who finished 12th in the super-G, had 1,409 points from the season overall with Cuche on 1,218.

Cuche, who does not normally ski the slalom, would have had to have won Friday's giant slalom and Saturday's slalom and hoped Miller gained no points to have had a realistic chance of snatching the overall crown.

If his Swiss team mate Daniel Albrecht had not finished 11th with the penultimate run on Thursday, Cuche would have crept into the points and won the super-G title.

Miller, who won six races in all disciplines this season, was not happy after the race despite knowing it was highly unlikely Cuche would suddenly decide to compete in the slalom.

"I am not celebrating. I didn't have such a great race," he said.

Fellow American Lindsey Vonn, already this year's downhill champion, should seal her maiden overall World Cup title in Friday's slalom after finishing second in Thursday's Super-G.

She would become the first American woman to win the overall crown since Tamara McKinney in 1983. However, the US ski team cannot celebrate a double triumph because of Miller's defection.

The controversial character, who often skis in unorthodox fashion, has credited his success this season to the fact he is racing independently.

Last year, Miller did not live up to expectations at the world championships in Are, Sweden by failing to get on the podium. He did go on to win the World Cup's crystal globe in the super-G.

The 30-year-old won nothing at the 2006 Turin Olympics after clinching the 2005 overall World Cup by winning at least one race in each of the disciplines, as well as two world championship golds back in Bormio.

Reuters