Summary The 31-year-old returned to Austria immediately after her injury during a training fall on Thursday.
VIENNA: Austria's reigning slalom World Cup champion Marlies Schild will be out for three months after tearing a muscle in her right knee during training in Are, Sweden, the Austrian ski federation announced Friday.
This effectively ends her season and her chances of taking part in the biennial ski World Championships in Schladming in February.
The 31-year-old returned to Austria immediately after her injury during a training fall on Thursday morning to undergo scans in Innsbruck.
She was to be operated on Friday with recovery expected to last three months, the Austrian ski federation said in a statement.
In October 2008, Schild broke her left tibia and fibula during pre-season training but managed an impressive comeback to win the slalom World Cup crystal globe in 2010 and again last season.
She had previously won the title in 2007 and 2008, along with nabbing slalom gold at the last World Championships in Garmisch in 2011. Her other achievements include two silver and one bronze Olympic medals, as well as a combined crystal globe.
Schild, curently ninth in the slalom World Cup standings after a second-place finish in Aspen, was due to take part in the slalom in Are on Thursday evening, which was eventually won by US skier Mikaela Shiffrin.
The Austrian is one World Cup slalom win short of Swiss skier Vreni Schneider's all-time record of 34.
