Breezy Johnson crowns her career, which has also come to a standstill through her own fault, with the downhill world championship title. The American wins gold two months after the end of a long ban.
08.02.2025, 16:55
09.02.2025, 09:26
SDA
A surprise, yes. Comparable to Jasmine Flury's victory two years ago in Méribel. But completely out of the blue? Not really - even if Breezy Johnson is not yet a World Cup winner. She came second twice in the training sessions these days, indicating that she is coping well with the conditions on the Ulli Maier slope. "On a good day, many things are possible," said the 29-year-old American, who was born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and grew up in Victor, Idaho, looking forward to the race with great confidence.
Her name had already been mentioned in the list of medal candidates. What's more, she had already set out once to place herself in the top segment of the downhill hierarchy. Nevertheless: "Downhill World Champion Breezy Johnson" still takes some getting used to. In any case, 16 years after Lindsey Vonn won the title in Val d'Isère, the USA is once again the gold medal winner in the top alpine discipline.
End of the season instead of the Olympic Games
The first sporting high began a good four years ago - and lasted twelve months. During this time, Breezy Johnson took seven podium places in the World Cup, three second and four third. After the last top result, it was still seven weeks until the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Logically, Breezy Johnson was one of the favorites for the downhill, and she also saw herself in a promising starting position. But things turned out differently. In a crash during training for the downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, she suffered cartilage damage in her right knee. The season was over for her and the races in Yanqing took place without her.
That or the knee - the joints had already forced Breezy Johnson to take long breaks twice before, twice in quick succession. In September six years ago, she tore a cruciate ligament in her right knee during pre-season training in El Colorado in Chile. She had barely finished her convalescence when she found herself back in the operating theater. After an incident nine months later during giant slalom training at Mammoth Mountain in California, she suffered a second cruciate ligament tear, this time in her left knee, as well as a collateral ligament tear.
Breezy Johnson had trouble coping with the latest setback. She was devastated and shocked, she wrote on social media at the time. She struggled to accept the new misfortune. She struggled, tried to make sense of what had happened - and failed. Nevertheless, leaving top-class sport was not an issue for her. She loved being a ski racer too much. So she embarked on the arduous journey again and took up the challenge once more.
The following January, five years ago, Breezy Johnson returned to the World Cup, and twelve months later, in mid-December, she achieved her first top three World Cup rankings. In the downhill races in Val d'Isère, she came third twice within 24 hours.
Suspension instead of ski racing
After missing out on the Olympic Games in Beijing, things went wrong on the race slopes - and the next drastic incident followed, for which Breezy Johnson, however, has to bear sole responsibility. Within the space of a year, she had violated the obligation to report to the United States Anti-Doping Agency three times. She was therefore suspended for 14 months. The ban began on October 10 of the year before last, which is why the World Cup races last winter took place without Breezy Johnson.
The new world champion returned to the World Cup last December, with moderate success for the time being. She experienced her only upset in the downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It was the last race in this discipline before the World Championships, a week and a half before the opening ceremony in Saalbach.
It was a step up at the right moment. Breezy Johnson traveled to Glemmtal with additional self-confidence. She had proved to herself that on a good day she could once again keep up with the best. The good day came sooner than expected, at the right moment.
