CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — American Breezy Johnson has conquered Cortina.
The same course that ended her Olympic dreams in 2022 delivered gilded immortality Sunday, as she won the women’s downhill gold medal with a time of 1:36.10. The win came on the same day U.S. teammate Lindsey Vonn suffered a hard crash and was airlifted to a local hospital, just more than a week after she ruptured the ACL in her left knee.
Johnson skied sixth in the lineup, her time holding up as the remaining 30 skiers raced. About halfway through the remaining order, while Johnson was still in the winner's seat, she appeared to be tearing up, probably with because it’s setting in that she would be an Olympic medalist.
And indeed, as she stepped onto the podium, when it was finally official, she had a huge smile on her face, shook her medal a little bit and then waved to the crowd.
"I think that this was the best run Breezy's ever skied," teammate Bella Wright, who finished 21st in the downhill, said. "I've seen her ski ever since I was 8 years old. We've competed with each other. And today she had some mistakes. She had some wild moments, but she really was so gritty. And I knew it was going to be a hard run to beat."
