American Breezy Johnson won gold in the women’s downhill Saturday at the alpine skiing world championships, the biggest result of the 29-year-old former Olympian’s career.
Johnson, who was the first skier on the course Saturday, posted a time of 1:41.29, then sat in the leader’s chair and watched 32 other skiers fall short of that mark for her first victory on a major stage. She’s a seven-time podium finisher in downhill on the World Cup tour, has made four world championship appearances and was an Olympian in 2018, but Johnson had never won a race at any of those events before Saturday.
Austria’s Mirjam Puchner took second, 0.15 seconds behind Johnson. Czechia’s Ester Ledecka was third, 0.21 back.
U.S. teammate Lauren Macuga — who took the bronze in super-G at worlds on Thursday — had another strong run to finish fifth. Lindsey Vonn, the 82-time World Cup winner returning to the sport at age 40, finished 15th after skiing out in the super-G.
Italy’s Federica Brignone, the top downhill skier on the World Cup tour so far this year, finished 10th. Swiss favorite Lara Gut-Behrami fell and did not finish.
🥇🇺🇸 Breezy Johnson runs the Downhill of her life to clinch title!@saalbach2025#fisalpine | #saalbach2025 | #skiverrückt | #wintersport pic.twitter.com/H5nt5C170Y
— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) February 8, 2025
Johnson took fourth in a super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, two weeks ago — a glimpse of the top form she was finding after her own return to skiing. She missed most of the last three years with injury and then a 14-month ban for violations of anti-doping whereabouts rules.
“It has not sunk in; this is very crazy,” she told NBC Sports’ Heather Cox after her run, while still waiting for the racers behind her to finish and make the result official.
Once it was, Johnson was overcome with emotion. She’s the fourth American woman to win world-championship gold in the downhill after Vonn (2009), Hilary Lindh (1997) and Picabo Street (1996).
Johnson’s win, which came one year to the day before the women’s downhill at the 2026 Olympics, gives the U.S. speed-skiing team another strong result in the ramp-up to the Milano-Cortina Games. In addition to her world-championship bronze in super-G, the 22-year-old Macuga posted her first career World Cup win last month. Vonn now has five top-15 finishes and two top-sixes in nine races back at the sport’s highest level after almost six years away.
(Photo of Breezy Johnson: Jens Büttner / picture alliance via Getty Images)
