LAKE LOUISE, Canada -- Italy's Isolde Kostner suffered a crash in training for Friday's World Cup women's downhill event and was taken to hospital, race organizers said.

Kostner, the downhill World Cup champion, will miss the first two downhill races of the season Friday and Saturday after crashing on her second training run at the Lake Louise course and being temporarily knocked unconscious.

She was taken off the mountain, where she has won five times, by helicopter and transported to the nearby Mineral Springs hospital by ambulance.

Kostner, 27, complained of a sore neck and back when she regained consciousness.

She was later diagnosed as having concussion, plus bruising to her hip and shoulder, and was being kept in hospital overnight.

Kostner, who won the downhill silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and has been super-G world champion twice, in 1996 and 1997, is expected to fly home as soon as doctors say she can travel, Reuters reported.

Valerio Ghirardi, her personal trainer, said: "She was pretty confused at the beginning but things improved after a while.

"She was in shock, a tough situation for her because she has never gone through such a moment in her career.

"If things go well she may race again in a couple of weeks but nothing is sure. It's really too bad because Isolde was in her best form ever," said Ghirardi. "But the most important is that she feels well as soon as possible."

Kostner finished third in last week's World Cup super-G in Aspen, Colorado, a race won by Germany's Hilde Gerg.