La Molina, Spain - Tanja Poutiainen of Finland claimed her first alpine skiing season victory in a giant slalom on Saturday and with it moved on top of the World Cup standings - profiting from crashes.

Placed fourth after the first run, Poutiainen clocked a combined total of 2 minutes 16.76 seconds from both runs as she pipped Italy's Manuela Moelgg by two hundredths of a second for her eighth career victory.

Moelgg clocked 2:16.78 and Nicole Hosp of Austria was third in 2:17.41 minutes in the Pyrenees resort of La Molina which saw its first World Cup race.

Austrian Kathrin Zettel was the leader after the first run, 0.72 seconds ahead of Poutiainen, but missed victory in a second-run crash. American Lindsey Vonn also crashed in the first run, which allowed Poutiainen to top the World Cup.

Poutiainen leads with 360 points to Vonn's 358 and the Finn also tops the giant slalom rankings with 260 points from three races.

A women's slalom was scheduled for Sunday in La Molina. (dpa)