US ski star Bode Miller is assured of winning the prestigious overall World Cup title after main rival Didier Cuche of Switzerland said he would not compete in Saturday's slalom race.
  
Miller, the 2005 overall champion, finished 12th in the season's final super-G won by Austria's Hannes Reichelt and now has a 191-point lead on Cuche with only a giant slalom on Friday and slalom on Saturday.
  
Cuche, a speed specialist who won the downhill crown on Tuesday ahead of Miller after the final race was cancelled, failed to score any points in the super-G. It meant he lost the title by just one point, to Reichelt.
  
With victory in World Cup races worth 100 points, the 33-year-old Swiss would have had to win both remaining slaloms to have any chance of overhauling Miller.
  
The 30-year-old Miller thus claims his first World Cup crown since 2005, when he also won world titles in the super-G and downhill. Miller could extend his overall lead in Friday's giant slalom, where Cuche is expected to compete.
  
Saturday's slalom is the final race of the men's World Cup season. A team event which has no bearing on World Cup standings will be held on Sunday.