Schild finished second in last season's slalom World Cup

The 25-year-old Austrian held on to her first-leg lead to beat Finland's Tanja Poutiainen by 0.32 seconds.

It means that, with only two races remaining, Schild can now not be caught in the slalom championship standings.

The 2006 Olympic bronze medallist also took the lead in the overall World Cup table, pushing compatiot Renate Goetschl into second spot.

Goetschl has three downhill, two super-G races and two giant slaloms in which to claim points but does not race the more technical slalom event.

All-rounder Schild could compete in all 10 remaining races with four to held at the season's finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland between 14-18 March.

She had topped the leaderboard in Sierra Nevada, near Grenada, Spain after the first run and produced a similarly strong second leg performance to finish ahead Poutiainen.

The victory keeps Schild on course to match Janica Kostelic's record of eight season slalom wins in 2001.

"My goal was to clinch the slalom World Cup title but it would be fun to go for Janica's record," Schild said.

Slovakian Veronika Zuzulova was third, 0.93 seconds behind Schild's one minute 43.61 seconds.

1. Marlies Schild (Aut) 1 min 43.61 secs.
2. Tanja Poutiainen (Fin) 1:43.93
3. Veronika Zuzulova, (Slo) 1:44.54
4. Nicole Hosp, (Aut), 1:44.55
5. Ana Jelusic, (Cro) 1:44.75
6. Sarka Zahrobska, (Cze) 1:44.86
7. Aline Bonjour (Swi) 1:45.00
8. Therese Borssen (Swe) 1:45.08
9. Chiara Costazza (Ita) 1:45.25
10. Sandra Gini (Swi) 1:45.77

World Cup slalom standings

1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 660 points
2. Ana Jelusic, Croatia, 328
3. Therese Borssen, Sweden, 324
4. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 294
5. Sarka Zahrobska, Czech Republic 285
6. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 257
7. Veronika Zuzulova, Slovakia, 244
8. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 237
9. Chiara Costazza, Italy, 148
10. Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, Germany, 145

Overall World Cup Standings:

1. Marlies Schild (Aut) 1,052 points
2. Renate Goetschl (Aut) 1,019
3. Nicole Hosp (Aut) 989
4. Julia Mancuso (USA) 959
5. Lindsey Kildow (USA) 808
6. Anja Paerson (Swe) 579
7. Kathrin Zettel (Aut) 568
8. Tanja Poutiainen (Fin) 543
9. Michaela Kirchgasser (Aut) 479
10. Sarka Zahrobska (Cze) 444