The 33-year-old crashed while training in Ushuaia in Argentina and may have torn her ACL.

Robert Magat, Slovakia's team manager, said that the diagnosis is unconfirmed with Pyeongchang 2018 less than 150 days away.

Velez-Zuzulova is considered a major medal hope in the slalom after finishing second behind American Mikaela Shiffrin in the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup standings for the discipline last term.

She won the World Cup race in Croatia's capital Zagreb on January 3 and also claimed four second-place finishes throughout the season.

The Zagreb success denied Olympic slalom champion Shiffrin a record eighth consecutive victory. 

The Slovakian won a silver medal in the team competition at this year's FIS Alpine World Championships in St Moritz, with this event due to make its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.

"On behalf of Veronika and her father, Timotej Zuzula, we ask all media representatives for patience, but we cannot tell you more precisely about the extent and timing of the treatment of the injured knee, but we assure everyone that we will inform you immediately after further evaluation in Europe," Magat told Sport.sk.

Velez-Zuzulova will now travel to Austria for more evaluation.

She has competed at three Olympic Games in her career and has won five World Cup slalom races in all.