Austria's Hirscher wins World Cup overall title

"With the season he's had, he deserved to win the globe," the American said of Hirscher. "For me it was a good year, it's just that someone else was better."

Hirscher won four GS races and nine events in total this season.

"What happened to Ted could have happened to me as well," said Hirscher, who won the event in 2 minutes, 25.52 seconds to lead an Austrian sweep of the podium.

It was an all-Austrian podium as Hannes Reichelt, who led after the first run, came 0.19 behind in second and Marcel Mathis was third, 0.55 behind.

Didier Cuche celebrated his retirement by wearing an outfit from the 1950s including a backpack and wooden skis. The Swiss standout slid down the hill at a slow pace and stopped several times to greet and hug officials and coaches along the course.

It took him 5 minutes, 44 seconds to complete his run. After crossing the finish line, Cuche showed his trademark ski flip for a last time, cheered on by thousands of fans in the Planai stadium.

Since his World Cup debut in 1998, Cuche competed in 358 World Cup races. He won 21 events and was the season's downhill champion four times.

"Ski retiree sounds a bit weird but I will get used to it," Cuche said. "I believe it was the right decision."