Christoph Wahrstötter, member of the Austrian Ski Cross team, suffered a meniscus fracture in his left knee crashing in a training run on the Pitztal glacier. As if that wouldn't have been enough, the 25-year-old skier of the national squad also tore his ACL.

As a result, the Tyrolean skier, who already underwent surgery in Innsbruck, will not only miss the World Champs on home soil next January but will also be sidelined from action during the whole World Cup season.

The accident happened in the start section of the team's training course: “After a few disappointing attempts in this section I wanted to go through it with a bit more speed. In the end, I was too fast, overshot a jump and landed in the flat where the impact was too big for my knee,” Wahrstötter said.

His coach Gerold Posch added: “His loss hurts. He was in a pretty good shape already, and he was about to keep the momentum from last season.”

At the final race of the 2014 World Cup season, Wahrstötter had celebrated his career's first podium result finishing second in La Plagne, France.