Ivica Kostelic’s defence of the men’s overall World Cup title has been placed in doubt after the Croatian injured his knee during a triumphant super-combined run on Sunday.

Kostelic, already the winner of two of the previous three super-combineds this season, successfully defended his World Cup title in the discipline when he won his third on the Sochi 2014 Olympics course.

His victory over Swiss Beat Feuz, however, came at a price.

Kostelic, who was in tears from the pain after being helped on to the podium, did not appear at the post-race media conference, having ben taken to hospital with a suspected knee injury.

Croatia’s director of alpine skiing Vedran Pavlek told media: “I apologise on behalf of Ivica, he doesn’t feel good enough to speak.

“He injured his right knee during the second (slalom) run, during which he felt a click in his knee.

“He didn’t feel too much pain during the race but at the finish he couldn’t fully extend his knee.”

Pavlek said he feared Kostelic had “suffered the injury as he did in 2003.”

Kostelic was set to undergo MRI scans.

“We want to thank the organisers for acting so fast. He will undergo an MRI scan very quickly and we’ll see what is going to happen next as regards potential surgery.”

The news has blown the race for the World Cup overall title wide open.

With 15 races remaining Swiss Beat Feuz, the winner of the downhill on Saturday who finished second in the super-combined, has 973 points and a 70-point deficit to Kostelic.

Austria’s Marcel Hirscher is third overall on 825 while Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal is fourth on 691.