LA MOLINA, Spain (AP) – Lindsey Vonn moved back to the top of the World Cup standings on Sunday with a slalom performance that showed she has the all-around talent to become the first American woman to win back-to-back overall titles.

Only Germany’s Maria Riesch was better than Vonn on the Cerdanya Catalunya slalom course with the 24-year-old German using a blistering final run to secure her first slalom win in nearly five years.

But Vonn’s runner-up performance kept her atop of the slalom standings. She is 30 points ahead of Riesch, her best friend, following a victory at Levi, Finland, and a fourth-place at Aspen.

Another strong showing in the stormy conditions in Spain showed she’s not just a speed specialist.

“It was a great end to the weekend,” the St. Paul, Minnesota, native said. “Today to have the result was definitely good for me,” Vonn said. “I’m so comfortable on my skis right now in slalom and I’ve been really consistent and never had that before in slalom. It’s been going really well.”

The 24-year-old Vonn, the first American woman to win the overall title since Tamara McKinney in 1983, passed Tanja Poutiainen of Finland for the overall lead with 438 points. The Finn is 38 points back after finishing sixth and Riesch is third, 110 behind.

Vonn was disqualified Saturday after running off an “aggressive” giant slalom course on her first run. She remains committed to improving her fortunes in the one event where success has so far eluded her.

“Despite yesterday I learned from my mistake,” Vonn said. “I hate watching second runs and not being there and that really got me fired up going into today.”

Continuous snowfall, fading light and dipping temperatures had top skiers completing the short course at least five seconds slower than in the morning. Vonn was too conservative on her first run and sat fourth, but rebounded to lead until Riesch’s final run.

Vonn was pleased after some suggested that her first slalom win came down to an easier course.

“I showed I’m definitely a slalom skier and I’m going to be in there competing every day,” said Vonn, who stepped onto the podium for the 34th time. “Little things like that help to get me fired up and prove everybody wrong.”

Riesch, who led after the first run, nearly skidded off the top section but recovered to finish in 59.17 seconds and win with a combined time of 1:52.98, 1.48 seconds better than Vonn. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third in 1:55.34.

The 24-year-old Riesch set the fastest time across both runs to pick up her first slalom victory since a win at Levi in February 2004. She finished the morning run in 53.81 seconds on the way to her seventh World Cup victory.

“This week was a great one,” Riesch said after reaching the podium for the 21st time. “I felt really good after training on Wednesday but I didn’t expect to do so well and win.”

The top three all nearly lost control on the top part of the 2,000-foot course, with visibility low as the overnight snow continued into the afternoon. At least 16 inches of snow had fallen.

Vonn stayed conservative on the first run, feeling out the tight middle section that was accentuated by quick combinations.

“I needed to get the confidence, feel the timing, feel the rhythm and I think I was just holding on a little too much,” she said. “I really carried good speed in the flat, just in the pitch I wasn’t letting it go. I tried to do that more in the second run. It was definitely cleaner and much more aggressive skiing.”

The women’s circuit moves to St. Moritz, Switzerland, next weekend for a downhill, giant slalom and super-combined.

Vonn gets another chance in St. Moritz to become only the fifth woman to win events in all five disciplines, and to add to her margin in the downhill. She leads her favorite discipline by 20 points over Italy’s Nadia Fanchini after one race.

“You never know, there’s always girls that ski fast and it’s always difficult to be in the lead in the overall standings so I’m not trying to focus on that right now, but just to ski my best,” Vonn said.

It was the first time that a World Cup event – men’s or women’s – is being held in the Spanish Pyrenees.