She kept a hard-charging attitude and that was on display in Cortina on a day marred by teammate Lindsey Vonn\u2019s crash<\/a> and trip to a hospital. The 30-year-old Johnson joins Vonn, 41, as the only American women to win the Olympic downhill.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are jealous of people with Olympic gold medals. They\u2019re not necessarily jealous of the journey it took to get those medals,\u201d said Johnson, who has never won a World Cup race. \u201cI don\u2019t think my journey is something that many people are envious of and it\u2019s been a tough road, but sometimes you just have to keep going because that\u2019s the only option. If you\u2019re going through hell, you keep walking because you don\u2019t want to just sit around in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson finished in 1 minute, 36.10 seconds to hold off Emma Aicher of Germany by just .04 seconds, securing the first medal for the United States at the Milan Cortina Games<\/a> in the process. Italy\u2019s Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill winner and 2022 silver medalist, finished with the bronze.<\/p>\n The tears began welling in the eyes of Johnson as racer after racer couldn\u2019t top her time, wiping them away with a mitten.<\/p>\n Her long-awaited medal? That didn\u2019t hold up so well. The clasp holding the ribbon to the medal broke. She placed the pieces in her pocket.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely heavier than I expected,\u201d Johnson said of her new hardware. \u201cI think that\u2019s maybe why it broke.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson was just the sixth racer of the day and found speed with a risk-taking trip along the iconic Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina<\/a>. She felt confident it was good enough for a medal, but not as sure if it would be gold.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I hoped that it would be enough,\u201d she said. \u201cI just tried to keep it rolling. I knew it was fast in some of the places where I made mistakes. I was like, \u2018Did I just make a mistake or did I make a mistake because I was going fast?\u2019 That\u2019s the line that you\u2019re always trying to walk, and today was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n She was in the leader\u2019s box when Vonn, the No. 13 racer, cut a corner too close and was spun around before crashing. The race was put on hold for more than 20 minutes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n United States\u2019 Lindsey Vonn crashes into a gate during an alpine ski women\u2019s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n United States\u2019 Lindsey Vonn crashes into a gate during an alpine ski women\u2019s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of wish the TV directors maybe wouldn\u2019t have replayed some of the crashes as much as they did,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little hard when you\u2019re surrounded by cameras and stuff, not wanting to watch that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly been a bumpy road to the top for Johnson, given the knee injury and a 14-month ban<\/a> that expired in December 2024. She returned to win the world championship last February.<\/p>\n Now, she\u2019s an Olympic downhill gold medalist. Teammate Jacqueline Wiles finished just 0.27 seconds away from a medal in a tie for fourth place.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that this was the best run Breezy\u2019s ever skied,\u201d teammate Bella Wright said. \u201cThere was a lot of expectation, and she rose to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson figures to have another shot at gold in the team event and could be paired with Mikaela Shiffrin.<\/p>\n \n United States’ Breezy Johnson celebrates winning the gold medal in the 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)\n <\/p>\n United States’ Breezy Johnson celebrates winning the gold medal in the 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)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \n Breezy Johnson of the United States reacts in the finish area of the alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott, Keystone via AP)\n <\/p>\n Breezy Johnson of the United States reacts in the finish area of the alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott, Keystone via AP)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Vonn\u2019s crash put a somber mood over the event. Vonn, who won the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games, was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland last week when she suffered a ruptured ACL for her latest major knee injury. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years and after receiving a partial titanium knee replacement<\/a> in her right knee.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope it\u2019s not as bad as it looked,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cMy heart just goes out to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Vonn, Cande Moreno of Andorra also was taken away in a helicopter after a crash in which her left knee appeared to buckle while landing after a jump.<\/p>\n For Aicher, the silver medal pairs with the silver she earned as part of the team parallel event at the 2022 Games.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the third turn I thought, \u201dOh (crap), what am I doing? Come on, Emma,\u2019\u201d she recounted. \u201cBut I managed to let the skis go pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n Both downhill golds this weekend were won by the reigning world champions after Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland<\/a> won the men\u2019s race on Saturday. Both races also featured up-and-coming silver medalists (Aicher, Giovanni Franzoni of Italy) and Italian veterans in bronze position (Goggia, Dominik Paris).<\/p>\n With her bronze medal, Goggia now has an Olympic downhill medal of every color.<\/p>\n \u201cSo-so with my performance, but in the overall I got a medal again,\u201d Goggia said. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Graham contributed from Bormio, Italy.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n![\"United](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770571811_415_.jpeg\")
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