The 28-year-old has undergone a catalogue of woes during his nine-year career and had already missed last season due to the same injury.

He will now have to undergo surgery in the next couple of days and although he has given up on his Olympic dream he has not yet called time on his career.

Gangnes debuted at the World Cup in March 2008 in Lillehammer and won his first World Cup event in Lysgårdsbakken two years ago.

He has suffered various setbacks due to injury over the course of his career.

He fell on Thursday (November 9) during a training session on the Midtstubakken hill in Oslo.

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan has confirmed that he has torn an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), the most serious of the ligament injuries.

"Kenneth worked so hard to come back again after his last injury and his physical shape was better than ever," said Lars Haugvad, medical coordinator of the Norwegian national team. 

"The fact that something like this happens now shows how brutal high-performance sports can be." 

Head coach Alexander Stoeckl was also shocked by the injury of one of his top athletes.

"This is incredibly sad news," he said. 

"Kenneth worked very hard on his comeback last winter and in summer. 

"It all looked very promising. 

"The rehabilitation was carried out very professionally. 

"He was patient and everything went according to plan."

Gangnes finished third in the overall World Cup of the 2015/16 season.

He made his comeback after a more than year-long break due to injury in the summer, and showed convincing performances in the FIS Grand Prix with a second place in Hakuba, Japan, and three more top ten results.

He had torn the ACL in his left knee in a training jump in Stams, Austria, in June 2016.