American Breezy Johnson of Jackson Hole, Wyoming has won the gold medal in the women’s downhill at the 2025 World Alpine Skiing Championships in Saalbach, Austria. For Johnson, this was the biggest accomplishment of her skiing career to date.
Inside look at the race
Johnson was the first skier down the hill on Saturday and was the fastest. Her winning time was 1:41.29. Mirjam Puchner of Austria won the silver medal with a time of 1:41.44. Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic, who is also a high performance snowboarder, won the bronze medal with a time of 1:41.50. Johnson reached the podium by 0.34 seconds over Cornelia Huetter of Austria, who had a fourth place time of 1:41.63.
Seven-time World Cup medalist
The gold medal for Johnson could have been considered a bit of a surprise. Johnson is a seven-time World Cup medalist, but her last medal did not come until 2022. In a span of two years, Johnson won three silver medals (all coming in 2021), and four bronze medals (all coming in 2022). She also has never won a World Cup race. Johnson has had most of her skiing success at Val d’Isere, France, where she has won three medals, and Lake Louise, Alberta, where she has won two medals.
Fourth American to win women’s downhill gold at World Championships
Johnson follows in the footsteps of Picabo Street of Triumph, Idaho, Hilary Lindh of Juneau, Alaska, and Lindsey Vonn of St. Paul, Minnesota. Street won gold at the 1996 World Alpine Skiing Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain, Lindh won gold at the 1997 World Alpine Skiing Championships in Sestriere, Italy, and Vonn won gold at the 2009 World Alpine Skiing Championships in Val d’Isere.
Who has won other gold medals so far?
This was the fourth event since the 2025 World Alpine Skiing Championships began on Tuesday. In other events, Italy won the Team Parallel event on Tuesday, Stephanie Venier of Austria won the women’s Super G on Thursday, and Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the men’s Super G on Friday.
