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Breezy Johnson got Team USA on the board Sunday when she won a gold medal in the women’s downhill event in alpine skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Johnson was the sixth runner down the mountain and scorched the course with a time of 1:36.10. She wasn’t exactly the favorite going into the race and had to hold her breath as 30 other competitors had to go down after her.
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Breezy Johnson of the United States celebrates at the finish of a women’s alpine ski race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Italy’s Sofia Goggia won a silver in 2022 and a gold in 2018 and had a good chance of winning another gold at the Milan Cortina event. However, a wrong move cost him enough time to keep Johnson in the lead.
Johnson also had to wait for Lindsey Vonn to race. But Vonn’s hopes of eclipsing her American teammate and winning a miraculous gold medal came to a screeching halt.
As Vonn entered the first sector, she crashed violently. The event was suspended for several minutes while medical professionals tended to Vonn and waited for a helicopter to transport her off the mountain. She arrived at the event injured after rupturing her ACL in an accident before the start of the Olympics. Vonn completed a practice session on Friday so she could stay in the event.
Breezy Johnson of the United States races down the course during a women’s alpine ski race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
MIKAELA SHIFFRIN SAYS IT’S ‘HARD TO RECONCILE’ GLOBAL VIOLENCE WHILE REPRESENTING THE UNITED STATES AT THE OLYMPICS
Johnson is the first American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. It was also the first time she won a medal at a Games. She was supposed to compete for Team USA in 2022, but a knee injury forced her to leave the team.
She is the second American woman to win gold in the event, following in Vonn’s footsteps.
Breezy Johnson of the United States races down the course during a women’s alpine ski race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
The German Emma Aicher won the silver medal and Goggia the bronze.
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The Wyoming native won gold medals at the 2025 World Championships in the downhill and team combined. Now she can call herself an Olympic gold medalist.
