ZAGREB, Croatia — Tanja Poutiainen earned her first World Cup victory of the season by winning a slalom today with a sizzling second run that vaulted her from third to first.

Marlies Schild, who had won the previous two years in the Croatian capital, finished second and took the lead in slalom standings.

Her Austrian countrywoman Nicole Hosp failed to finish the second run but retained a share of the overall lead in World Cup standings with American Lindsey Vonn.

Vonn and several other Americans skipped the race to return home early and begin preparing for the races next week in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Vonn and Hosp have 983 points.

Poutiainen finished in a combined time of 1 minute, 52.83 seconds. Schild clocked 1:53.35 and Veronika Zuzulova of Slovakia was third in 1:53.51.

It was Poutiainen's seventh career win and the first since she took a giant slalom last March in Zwiesel, Germany.

Zuzulova improved from seventh as some of the top finishers in the first run faltered on the icy, floodlit course on the Sljeme hill outside Zagreb. At more than 2,100 feet, it is the longest slalom course on the World Cup circuit.

Schild leads the slalom standings with 560 points. Hosp is second at 465.