It was during the downhill race in Val d'Isère last Friday that the nasty accident occurred.

Nicole Schmidhofer got a foul cut and cut right through the safety net and out on the other side.

It is now clear that the 31-year-old Austrian will have to undergo several operations after the crash - and that the knee injury she sustained in her left knee is more serious than first thought.

- Both anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments are off so it was a serious injury, but some blood vessels and nerves have survived, says Michael Plecko, doctor at the hospital in Graz, Austria.

But Schmidhofer himself is hopeful despite the heavy message.

- I want to ski again, maybe in eight months.

That is what I told the doctors, she says according to ORF.

CLIP: Here she crashes straight through the net:

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Here she crashes straight through the net Photo: SVT / Bildbyrån