The Austrian ski federation says Leitinger, who won silver in giant slalom at the world championships last year, will undergo surgery later Thursday after tearing his ACL in a crash at the Reiteralm.

Leitinger says “there is never a good moment for an injury but this is incredibly bitter.”

The 26-year-old Leitinger was the surprise runner-up to fellow Austrian Marcel Hirscher in the GS at the worlds in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in February but had yet to land a top-10 result on the World Cup this season.