Cortina smiles on US skier Breezy Johnson after previous pain

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy -- Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olimpia della Tofane piste wrecked Breezy Johnson's Olympic downhill hopes four years ago but made amends on Sunday, even if the gold medal came apart minutes after being hung round her neck.

Johnson held up the separated components - the chunky medal, clasp and ribbon - in the post-race press conference after becoming the first U.S. medalist of the Milan Cortina Games in the opening race of the women's Alpine ski program.

"I was jumping in excitement and it broke. I'm sure somebody will fix it. It's not like crazy broken but it's a little broken," she said.

'HEART ACHES' FOR LINDSEY VONN

The pain this time was for others - teammate Lindsey Vonn who was flown to hospital after a horrific crash while attempting to become the oldest Alpine Olympic medalist at the age of 41 and with a severely injured left knee.

"My heart aches for her. It's such a brutal sport sometimes," said Johnson.

Four years ago it was Johnson's heart that was aching after she qualified for the Beijing Games and then crashed in training for a Cortina World Cup downhill and was ruled out by injury.

The Wyoming-born skier was then banned for 14 months from October 2023, a sanction announced only in May 2024, after three anti-doping whereabouts failures.

A year ago, also on February 8, in the Austrian resort of Saalbach, Johnson hit the headlines in a more positive sense by becoming downhill world champion.

Yet to win a World Cup race, she now holds the two most valuable titles at the same time and is only the second U.S. skier to win women's downhill gold after Vonn in 2010. Sunday was her first Olympic medal.

"Obviously I've had quite a history here," said Johnson, a keen knitter who had talked the day before about finishing a "lucky" headband in time for the race.

"I knew that with a good run it was possible but I have had a lot of mistakes here.

"So it was really just trying to figure out how to avoid those mistakes. I wasn't quite sure it would be enough for the gold but I thought when I got down it would be enough for a medal."

CELEBRATIONS WITH FAMILY

Johnson said Cortina, a smart picture-book Alpine resort, was also third time lucky and she was ready to celebrate with her family.

"This is the third team that I've made and obviously it didn't go to plan on the second one," said the 30-year-old.

"I want to celebrate, my friends and family are here.

"My first Games were in (South) Korea. It felt very far away so my family was like 'I hope you make another'. And then obviously COVID happened and they were like 'hope you make another'. So hopefully I get some time with them and get to share a moment."

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media