Today is a sad day for Austrain ski racers as their world cup darling, Anna Fenninger is out for the 2015/2016 world cup season with multiple torn ligaments around her knee reports NBC Sports. Lately, the two time overall champ has struggled with persistent knee pain and this most rececent crash seems to have been the final straw.
The accident, which occured in Soelden, Austria this morning, left Fenninger with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and collateral cruciate ligament on her right knee as well as a torn patellar tendon.
According to the International Ski Federation, surgery will be required.
This year was Fenninger’s chance to win three overall world cup titles in a row, which would put her in the famed company of Lindsey Vonn and fellow Austrian legends Petra Kronberger and Annemarie Pröll. However, the chances of completing such a feat after such an injury are low. That said, Fenninger is relatively young at 26 and is likely to be full speed by this time next year.
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With Fenninger out as well as Tina Maze and Maria Hoefl-Riesch, the road is wide open for the Americans, which include hopefuls Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, who are the only two skiers to have accumulated over a 1,000 world cup points last year.
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Vonn also turned 31 on Sunday and winning the overall title would make her the oldest racer to win a world cup overall title, not to mention tie Fenninger’s fellow countrywoman, Annemarie Moser-Pröll as the having the most overall championships at 6 titles.