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Breezy Johnson put Team USA on the board Sunday when she won a gold medal in the alpine skiing women’s downhill event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Johnson was the sixth rider to go down the mountain and scorched the course with a 1:36.10 time. She wasn’t exactly the favorite going into the race and had to hold her breath as 30 other competitors had to go downhill after her.
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United States’ Breezy Johnson celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Italy’s Sofia Goggia won a silver medal in 2022 and a gold in 2018 and had a good chance to pick up another gold medal in the Milan Cortina event. However, one false move threw her time off enough to keep Johnson in the lead.
Johnson also had to wait through Lindsey Vonn’s run. But Vonn’s hopes of eclipsing her American teammate and pull off a miraculous gold medal victory came to a nasty halt.
As Vonn entered the first sector, she crashed hard. The event was put on hold for several minutes as medical professionals tended to Vonn and waited for a helicopter to carry her off the mountain. She was coming to the event injured as she ruptured her ACL in a crash before the Olympics began. Vonn powered through a training session on Friday to be able to stay in the event.
United States’ Breezy Johnson speeds down the course during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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Johnson is the first American to medal at the Winter Olympics. It’s also the first time she’s medaled at any Games. She was supposed to compete for Team USA in 2022 but a knee injury forced her off the team.
She is the second American woman to take gold in the event, following in Vonn’s footsteps.
United States’ Breezy Johnson speeds down the course during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Germany’s Emma Aicher won the silver medal and Goggia picked up the bronze.
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The Wyoming native won gold medals at the 2025 World Championships in downhill and team combined. Now, she can call herself an Olympic gold medalist.
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