When Breezy Johnson greeted a group of reporters near the finish line at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Sunday afternoon, she did something unusual: Johnson pulled the gold medal she had just won in the Olympic downhill competition, America’s first medal of these Milano Cortina Games, out of her pocket. Johnson, 30, had jumped up and down so hard on the podium that it fell out of its usual position, dangling from one’s neck.
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“It was definitely heavier than I expected,” says Johnson. “I think that’s maybe why it broke.”
No matter where Johnson puts her gold medal, it’s hers forever now. The American took an aggressive line down the Cortina downhill course on Sunday, crossing the finish line in 1 min., 36.10 sec. As the sixth racer down the slope, she had to wait for 30 more racers to take their turns before celebrating Team USA’s first women’s downhill Olympic gold in 16 years. Germany’s Emma Aicher made Johnson sweat in the strong Cortina sun: she finished just 0.04 seconds off the pace. Aicher took silver. Italy’s Sofia Goggia won bronze.
From the leader’s chair, Johnson watched the last American to win this Olympics race—Lindsey Vonn, in 2010—crash in her comeback to the Games, at 41. “It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life,” says Johnson. “I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through. And it’s not the physical pain. We can deal with physical pain. But the emotional pain is something else. I wish her the best. And I hope that this isn’t the end.”
Read More: Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic Crash, Though the Eyes of Her Family
Vonn’s accident surely marred the downhill event, but Johnson still deserves credit, and the proper spotlight, for turning in an all-timer of a clutch performance, in the biggest ski race of the Games. Think of the downhill as the Winter Olympic version of the 100-m dash in track and field. The race is fast, it has clout, and it’s appointment viewing, especially this year, with Vonn in the mix.
Johnson, who hails from Jackson Hole, made her World Cup debut in 2015-2016 but has never won one of the near-weekly events on the annual World Cup circuit. (She has missed significant time with injuries.) Yet she won the downhill at the 2025 world championships, as well as this Olympic downhill. That would be like if a tennis player never won at a routine tour stop in, say, Washington, D.C., or a jazzier event like Indian Wells, but raised the U.S. and French Open trophies. Johnson also won the team combined event at last year’s worlds: she’ll almost certainly pair up with Mikaela Shiffrin, the top-ranked slalom skier, in that event here on Tuesday.
Johnson has had a challenging journey to gold. Besides injuries, she was suspended in 2023 for 14 months and missed the 2023-2024 World Cup after she missed three drug tests in 2022 and 2023. She has long said that human error led to her whereabouts violations, that she never intentionally dodged a drug test.
“People are jealous of people with Olympic gold medals,” says Johnson. “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. It’s been a tough road. But sometimes you just have to keep going, because that’s the only option. 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.”
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