SIERRA NEVADA, Spain-
Marlies Schild won the slalom title Sunday and is ready to concentrate on something bigger—the overall World Cup trophy.
The Austrian captured a slalom to take the season title for the event with two races to spare, moving into first place in the overall standings. She has won six of the seven slaloms this season.
“Now she can ski more relaxed in the remaining slaloms,” Austria women’s head coach Herbert Mandl said. “It’s also important for the overall. If she can win the last two slaloms and also do good in GS, I think she’s the favorite.”
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was second, 0.32 seconds behind, and Veronika Zuzulova of Slovakia was third, 0.93 back. Julia Mancuso was the top American, 15th.
Schild is in a four-way race for the overall title with two teammates, Renate Goetschl and Nicole Hosp, and Mancuso. Schild leads the overall standings with 1,052 points, followed by Goetschl with 1,019, Hosp with 989 and Mancuso with 959.
Hosp finished fourth Sunday with the fastest second leg. Goetschl does not race slalom anymore.
Last season, Schild’s boyfriend, Benjamin Raich, won the men’s overall title.
In the slalom standings, Schild has 660 points. Ana Jelusic of Croatia, who finished fifth Sunday, is next, 332 points behind. Wins are worth 100 points each, so Schild has an insurmountable lead.
“My slalom season has really been perfect,” Schild said after skiing the Neveros course in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 43.61 seconds.
Poutiainen, the 2005 slalom champion, said Schild’s key is her consistency.
“The balance is there and then it doesn’t matter how the slope is or how the conditions are,” Poutiainen said. “She’s always really fast.”
Resi Stiegler of the United States, who was second after the opening leg, straddled a gate in her second run, losing control after posting a fast split time.
“I saw Resi before me did not finish and I thought maybe not to attack full,” said Schild, who also led the first leg.
Schild lost some of her lead midway through her second run, but held on in the steep lower section and clinched victory with the 10th fastest second leg.
Schild and Stiegler, who has never finished among the top three, are polar opposites.
“She never makes any mistakes. She’s very consistent. It’s perfection. It’s not really my style,” Stiegler said. “I’m all about feeling and going for it.”
The only slalom races Schild did not win this season came in the World Cup in Semmering, Austria, in December, and the world championships in Are, Sweden, this month.
Last season, Schild ended up second in the slalom standings behind Janica Kostelic, who is taking this year off. If Schild wins the final two slaloms—in Zwiesel, Germany, on March 11 and at the season finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on March 17—she can match Kostelic’s record of eight slalom victories in 2000-01. Kostelic, however, won all eight in succession.
An Austrian woman had not won the slalom title since Sabine Egger in 1999.
Olympic champion Anja Paerson of Sweden missed a gate early in her first run and did not finish. Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria, who won Saturday’s giant slalom, also skied out in the opening leg.
