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Breezy Johnson put Team USA on the board Sunday when she won a gold medal in the women’s alpine skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Johnson was the sixth runner down the mountain and swept 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 downhill after her.
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Breezy Johnson of the United States celebrates in the finish area of a women’s alpine ski 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 at another gold medal at the Milan Cortina event. However, one false move ruined his time enough to keep Johnson in the lead.
Johnson also had to wait during Lindsey Vonn’s run. But Vonn’s hopes of upstaging her American teammate and achieving a miraculous gold medal victory came to a screeching halt.
When Vonn entered the first sector, she crashed hard. The event was put on hold for several minutes while medical professionals tended to Vonn and waited for a helicopter to take her off the mountain. She came to the event injured as she tore her ACL in an accident before the Olympics began. Vonn held a training session on Friday in order to remain in the event.
Breezy Johnson of the United States accelerates down the track 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 ‘DIFFICULT TO RECONCILE’ VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD WHILE REPRESENTING THE USA AT THE OLYMPICS
Johnson is the first American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. It is also the first time he has won a medal in 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 accelerates down the track 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)
Germany’s 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 medley. Now she can consider herself an Olympic gold medalist.
