CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — 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 and just over a week since Vonn 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, realizing she would be an Olympic medalist.
After an emotional medal ceremony, Johnson walked over to the mixed zone with an empty ribbon around her neck, the medal she worked all her life for sitting in her front right coat pocket.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘I was jumping up and down in excitement and it fell off,’ she deadpanned about her newly won gold – the first medal captured by Team USA at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
While sitting with German silver medalist Emma Aicher and Italian bronze medalist Sofia Goggia during the post-event press conference, Johnson playfully warned Aicher, who was holding her medal: ‘Don’t jump.’
Johnson, a two-time Olympian, also made history, becoming the first American woman not named Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn to win an individual medal in Alpine skiing since Julia Mancuso in 2014 (bronze in super combined).
But one wouldn’t know by Johnson’s cool, casual demeanor after the race. She munched on a chocolate protein bar as she fielded questions from American reporters around 2:40 p.m. local time – her first bit of nourishment since a strudel at 10 a.m, roughly an hour and a half before the race.
Johnson, who turned 30 on Jan. 19, made jokes, but she was earnest when explaining how much this accomplishment meant to her after an injury kept her from competing in the previous Olympics in 2022, and a suspension by the U.S. U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for ‘whereabout failures’ kept her off the World Cup circuit in 2024.
‘I think people are jealous of people with Olympic gold medals,’ Johnson said. ‘They’re not necessarily jealous of the journey it took to get those medals. I don’t think my journey is something that many people are envious of. And it’s been a tough road, but sometimes you just have to keep going, because that’s the only option.
‘And if you’re going through hell, you keep walking because you don’t want to just sit around in hell. And sometimes when you keep going, maybe you’ll make it back to the top.’
Johnson suffered a devastating crash at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina during a training run four years ago. The accident partially dislodged a large chunk of cartilage in her right knee. As a result, she had to withdraw from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.
She told reporters Feb. 6 ahead of the first downhill training run that she needed to exorcise her Dolomiti demons. She finished that run sixth and won Saturday’s training session that was abbreviated due to weather.
American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin – who is skipping the speed events at these Games to focus on the slalom and giant slalom – was one of the first people to offer congratulations to Johnson.
The two have been friends since they were kids, so Shiffrin was glued to her TV to watch the race.
Another American teammate, Bella Wright, was also blown away by Johnson’s race.
‘I think that this was the best run Breezy’s ever skied,’ said Wright, who finished 21st in the downhill. ‘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.’
On Sunday, Johnson skied down the mountain toward Olympic glory.
The next track she’d like a shot at?
‘I mean, I crashed in Meribel (France),’ Johnson said. ‘I heard the Olympics are there in four years.’
Indeed. The 2030 Winter Olympics are being held in the French Alps.
Olympic women’s downhill results
Breezy Johnson, USA ….. 1:36.10
Emma Aicher, Germany ….. 1:36.14
Sofia Goggia, Italy ….. 1:36.69
Jackie Wiles, USA ….. 1:36.96
Cornelia Huetter, Austria ….. 1:36.96
Laura Pirovano, Italy ….. 1:37.04
Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, Norway ….. 1:37.08
Ariane Raedler, Austria ….. 1:37.20
Kira, Weidle-Winkelmann, Germany ….. 1:37.26
Federica Brignone, Italy ….. 1:37.29
Mirjam Puchner, Austria ….. 1:37.65
Nicol Delago, Italy ….. 1:37.65
Laura Gauche, France ….. 1:37.98
Corinne Suter, Switzerland ….. 1:38.01
Ilka Stuhec, Slovenia ….. 1:38.08
Romane Miradoli, France ….. 1:38.10
Janine Schmitt, Switzerland ….. 1:38.28
Jasmine Flury, Switzerland ….. 1:38.51
Malorie Blanc, Switzerland ….. 1:38.77
Elvedina Muzaferija, Bosnia and Herzegovina ….. 1:38.81
Isabella Wright, USA ….. 1:38.85
Julia Pleshkova, Individual Neutral Athletes ….. 1:39.69
Camille Cerutti, France ….. 1:40.41
Jordina Caminal Santure, Andorra ….. 1:41.34
Barbora Novakova, Czechia ….. 1:41.89
Cassidy Gray, Canada ….. 1:41.99
Matilde Schwencke, Chile ….. 1:43.31
Rosa Pohjolainen, Finland ….. 1:44.08
Alena Labastova, Czechia ….. 1:44.55
Nicole Begue, Argentina ….. 1:44.73
Elisa Maria Negri, Czechia ….. 1:45.48
Anastasiia Shepilenko, Ukraine ….. 1:47.70
Lindsey Vonn, USA ….. DNF
Nina Ortlieb, Austria ….. DNF
Cande Moreno, Andorra ….. DNF
Valerie Grenier, Canada ….. DSQ
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.