Defending Olympic aerial skiing champion Alisa Camplin is likely to have surgery this week after visiting a specialist in Melbourne.

Camplin re-tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during practice in the US.

Her knee was found to be less stable than expected and she will decide in the next few days the type of surgery she needs.

Her options include the donor surgery undertaken by teammate Lydia Ierodiaconou where a deceased person's Achilles tendon was used to replace the knee ligament.

Thirty-year-old Camplin, who won gold at Salt Lake City in 2000, will be racing the clock to be fit for the Turin Winter Games beginning in February.

Ierodiaconou, whose operation took place three-and-a-half months ago, is yet to return to competition.

Speaking from Los Angeles, Ierodiaconou said Camplin still had a chance to compete in Turin, so long as there were no complications in the procedure, and encouraged her to follow her trail-blazing recovery program.

"It's bad timing but she still has a chance so she should take it and go 100 per cent with it and hope that it works out," she said.

"It's going to be difficult and a lot of hard work but the chance is there so she may as well take it.

"It's very unfortunate and we're all really bummed about it."

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