The Jackson Hole, Wyoming, native was on the verge of victory when she recorded three second-place World Cup results over a one-year period ending in December 2021. Then a crash a month later ruled her out of the 2022 Beijing Olympics with a knee injury.

Breezy Johnson is the fourth American woman to win the downhill at the World Alpine Skiing Championships, marking the first major victory of her career. Johnson, the first racer, put down a time and then waited in the finish area for more than an hour to see if anybody would beat it. No one did.

Breezy Johnson had never won a major race before Saturday's breakthrough, one year to the day until the 2026 Olympic downhill race.