BERN, Switzerland - The Swiss ski federation says world championships medallist Beat Feuz needs surgery and will miss some World Cup races this season.

Feuz will have surgery to repair a partial tear of his right Achilles tendon on Thursday after an off-season training accident in Chile.

Swiss team doctors expect him to be sidelined for three months, the federation says.

Feuz says "I'm losing important weeks of training and I will miss the first World Cup races."

The 28-year-old racer has lost whole seasons to injury in the past and struggled to sustain the form that saw him narrowly lose the overall World Cup title in 2012 to Marcel Hirscher of Austria.

His bronze medal in downhill at the worlds in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in February was his best performance for three years.