Downhill world champion Rolland unable to defend title

PARIS (Reuters) - French skier Marion Rolland will not defend her downhill title at next month's world championships in Beaver Creek after tearing knee ligaments, the French Skiing Federation said on Wednesday.

(Reuters)

Rolland, 32, crashed in a World Cup Super-G in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on Monday.

She suffered a similar injury in training in September 2013 and missed the entire 2014 season and Sochi Winter Olympics as a result. Rolland has also injured her left knee twice in her career, her most spectacular crash taking place at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic downhill in Whistler when her knee snapped immediately after leaving the starting gate.

She won her world downhill title in Schladming, Austria, two years ago.

(Reporting by Manuele Lang, editing by Alan Baldwin)