SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) – He learned how to walk again. Then he learned how to ski. He endured almost unbearable pain when he crammed his swollen, distorted leg into a ski boot. Nothing was going to stop Hermann Maier from returning to World Cup racing.

On Saturday, after a motorcycle accident nearly cost him a leg three summers ago, Maier won the overall title for the fourth time in his first full season back on the circuit – one of the great comebacks in all sports.

Bode Miller had a slim chance of capturing the overall title, but the American was knocked from contention when fog and heavy snow forced organizers to call off the season’s final giant slalom.

Miller ended up capturing the giant slalom title his first – World Cup trophy – and had nothing but admiration for Maier.

“I would have been impressed even without the injury,” said Miller, who was trying to become the first American man to win the overall title since Phil Mahre in 1983.

Maier was close to kidney failure and having his leg amputated in a motorcycle crash in August 2001. But he defied all expectations by returning to the summit of ski racing.

This season, Maier won two downhills. He captured three super giant slaloms, finishing among the top three in all seven races to secure the discipline’s title as well.

The decision to abandon the giant slalom left Austria’s Benjamin Raich and Finland’s Kalle Palander fuming, their chances for the overall and giant slalom crowns over.

Raich was fastest in the opening leg of the giant slalom and poised to move within 52 points of Maier in the overall rankings.

Palander was second and looked capable of overtaking Miller in the giant slalom rankings to win that title. Trailing Miller by 61 points, Palander needed to win or finish runner-up and hope Miller failed to score.

Miller played into his hand with a blunder in the upper section. He ended up on his back, skis in the air.

Midway through the second leg, the race was called off because of thickening fog. It was soon announced the second leg would not be rescheduled or rerun, leaving Palander without a chance to beat Miller.

“I think I deserved the GS title, but I would have been happier to see that race go off and see what Palander would do,” Miller said.

“Winning a GS season is one of the things I’ve wanted to do since starting ski racing. It was a little bit anticlimactic.”

Maier finished the season with 1,265 points, 42 ahead of defending champion Austrian Stephan Eberharter, who will not race in the final slalom.

“This is worth as much as my first Olympic gold medal in Nagano, maybe a little more,” said Maier, a double Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Cup overall champion.

At the 1998 Nagano Games, Maier made one of the most spectacular downhill crashes only to get back up and win the super-G and giant slalom gold medals in the next few days.

His resilience was at its utmost after he was pulled from the wreckage when a car hit his motorcycle in Radstadt, Austria, on Aug. 24, 2001.

He underwent seven hours of surgery. Doctors inserted screws and a titanium rod to repair his tibia and grafted skin from his left arm on his right shin. He was badly bruised around his pelvis, and for several days two tennis ball-sized blood clots paralyzed his legs.

Away from the slopes for almost two years, Maier returned to win a super-G, only his fourth race back, and won the silver medal in the same event at the worlds a month later.

He previously won the overall in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Eberharter won the last two seasons when Maier was recovering.

Paerson finished 0.68 seconds behind Austrian winner Marlies Schild, who won in 1 minute, 41.82 seconds, but far in front of her only challenger for the overall title – Austria’s Renate Goetschl. Goetschl, a speed specialist, finished 24th out of 24 skiers, with a huge 6.10-second deficit.

That left Paerson with an insurmountable 117-point lead over Goetschl with only one race remaining – Sunday’s giant slalom.

Paerson has 1,461 points overall to Goetschl’s 1,344. Paerson already had wrapped up the slalom and giant slalom season titles.