KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia -- A course set by his own coach and soft snow helped Ted Ligety become the first American to win a race on the men's World Cup circuit this season.

The 24-year old Ligety won a giant slalom Saturday for his fourth career victory. He finished in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 19.92 seconds to beat Didier Cuche of Switzerland by 0.19 seconds and Massimiliano Blardone of Italy by 0.34.

Ligety, the defending GS champion, had a near-flawless second run on the Podkoren course, which was set by United States head coach Sasha Rearick.

"It's a fantastic hill, I like it here," said Ligety, who also won in Kranjska Gora last year and whose four victories all came in GS. "My coach set the second run and it was just how I like it, you know I like those big sweeping turns. I had a couple of bobbles along the way, but I'm really happy."

Ligety got slightly off the ideal line in the middle part of his second run, but quickly recovered and hardly lost any time.

"I was a little late coming over one of the rolls and got a little low," he said. "But I didn't panic and that was the big thing. I was lucky there wasn't too much soft snow on the track. ... It got really warm today but for some reason I seem to win when it gets warm. All my World Cup wins have come when it's gone sludgy in the second run."

Ligety's win came just a week after he went out in a GS in Sestriere, Italy, which left him with only a theoretical chance of retaining the discipline title he won last season.

Rearick praised the 24-year-old American for refocussing so quickly after that disappointment.

"After last week's performance to step up and win a race is amazing," Rearick said. "Cuche is skiing really hot, so to go out and catch him took a lot of effort and a lot of risk.

"We set the second run really turny to try to give Ted an opportunity to shine at his skill, and he skied super."

That he was the first American to post a win this season didn't make Ligety particularly proud.

"That's not a cool thing, it's kind of bad that we hadn't won yet," he said. "Surprising that Bode (Miller) hasn't won this year and then we also have Marco (Sullivan) and some fast guys on the speed side that could have won by now. But it's not so easy, we are not Lindsey Vonn."

Tim Jitloff was the only other American to qualify for the second run, but he went out after losing balance on a ski on the bumpy middle part of the course.

Defending overall champion Miller skipped the races in Slovenia as he extended his midseason break in the United States to rest and to recover from an ankle injury.

With just one giant slalom remaining at the season-ending races in Are, Sweden, Cuche leads the discipline standings with 414 points, 52 clear of Benjamin Raich of Austria and 73 more than Ligety.

If Cuche finishes fourth in Are, he will be assured of the GS crystal globe.

"I still have to push," Cuche said. "Last year I blew a big lead in the super-G standings in the final race. That won't happen again."

Ligety, who won back-to-back giant slaloms at the end of last season, expects Cuche to earn the discipline title.

"Seventy-three points is a lot of points," Ligety said. "I have to win and he (Cuche) will have to do pretty poorly so I don't think that will happen. He is more determined this year and he knows he doesn't want to blow like he did in the super-G last year."

Women's World Cup

BANSKO, Bulgaria (AP) -- Lindsey Vonn grew up idolizing Picabo Street.

Now Vonn has matched her skiing hero, joining Street as the only American women to win the World Cup downhill championship twice.

The 24-year-old Vonn, with her injured thumb in a splint and looking unsteady, finished 12th Saturday, 2.19 seconds behind winner Andrea Fischbacher of Austria. She missed the podium for the first time in seven events.

Still, it was enough to give her the downhill crown. Second-place Dominque Gisin of Switzerland cannot cover the 111-point gap with one downhill left on the circuit.

"It's so cool to join Picabo as the only American to win the downhill title twice." Vonn said. "It really doesn't seem like all that long ago when I met her at a poster signing in Minnesota and since then I've always looked up to her."

Street won downhill titles in 1995 and 1996.

"It felt strange to win the title then without winning the race, but sometimes that's how it goes," said Vonn, who is on course to defend her overall championship, too. She has a 336-point advantage over Germany's Maria Riesch.

"It's never easy to win a World Cup title and it's even harder to defend one," Vonn said. Earlier this month, Vonn won her 19th World Cup race to top Tamara McKinney for the U.S. women's record.

U.S. coach Jim Tracy said Saturday's race was more about the title than another podium spot.

"This was a day for trying to ski solid without taking too much risk," Tracy said. "The TV doesn't do this course justice -- it's nasty and Lindsey did a good job staying with it to finish the race. She deserves the title."

Bulgaria's tough course, new to the women's World Cup, has not favored the standings leaders.

Riesch finished eighth Saturday and 18th the previous day, while Sweden's Anja Paerson remains third overall despite twice failing to complete the course at Bansko.

Fischbacher, meanwhile, continued a remarkable run. She took both training races and came second in the downhill Friday before Saturday's win in 1 minute, 45.81 seconds.

Tina Maze of Slovenia (1:46.07) was second and Swiss skier Fabienne Suter (1:46:20) was third.

U.S. speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser said he had no doubt Vonn had consistently been the strongest skier this year.

"This is just such a tough course ... She did a great job staying with it," Hoedlmoser said.

"The downhill title is a reflection of the best speed skier throughout the season and Lindsey is definitely the best and she deserves the title."