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Vonn was assured of the win when she finished in the top 15 in the slalom and the only skier with a chance to catch her, Germany's Maria Riesch, failed to finish.
"It was amazing today," Vonn said. "I'm just really happy that it's over."
Bode Miller won his second overall title in four years Thursday with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined with Didier Cuche's announcement that he would not enter Saturday's season-ending slalom.
The last Americans to hold both titles together were Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983. Vonn, who changed her last name from Kildow when she married former U.S. racer Thomas Vonn, became the second American woman to win the overall. She had already captured the season's downhill title.
She lagged behind in 25th place after the first run, but fought back with the fastest second run to finish 11th on the day, more than enough for the overall title.
"I was bummed out after the first run but I knew I had a good opportunity to charge in the second run and I kept charging and now I got some slalom points and won the overall," she said.
"It's amazing," Vonn said. "It was a tough day today with tough conditions but I just kept fighting and I took it."
[Associated Press; By NESHA STARCEVIC]
AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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