CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – The U.S. Alpine Ski team held a toast for Breezy Johnson Sunday night in honor of her gold medal performance in the women’s downhill earlier in the day.
Everyone was ecstatic for their friend and teammate on winning her first Olympic medal. She deserved all the praise. But something else happened in the event after Johnson’s historic run. Lindsey Vonn crashed 13 seconds after leaving the starting gate. She fractured her left leg and had to be airlifted off the side of the mountain by the Olympic medical team.
‘Obviously we’re so happy for Breezy, and she skied amazing,’ technical skier AJ Hurt said Monday, Feb. 9. ‘And then there’s this rock, and it’s impossible to ignore how devastating it was for Lindsey.
‘… But I think that shouldn’t mean that we can’t support Breezy and be so happy for her. Because she just won Olympic gold, and that’s amazing, and I don’t think that anything should take away from that. I think we can have both of those emotions at the same time.’
Fellow skier Nina O’Brien crashed in Beijing four years ago, fracturing her left tibia and fibula just before the finish line in the giant slalom. She, like many other skiers who’ve spoken on Vonn’s crash, acknowledged injury as a big part of the sport. Compartmentalization is a prerequisite for any athlete hoping to be elite in Alpine.
‘Whether it’s watching a dear friend and teammate have a really terrible injury, or maybe flashbacks to something that’s happened to you in the past,’ O’Brien said, ‘I think for me personally, the healthiest way is to try and forget that for the moment and just focus on whatever I need to do in order to perform at the start gate.’
Tech skier Paula Moltzan said they sent Vonn their love but hadn’t yet heard from her. Moltzan added that the team is ‘patiently waiting to hear what’s going on, just like you guys.’
U.S. skiing spokesperson Sierra Ryder referred to a previous statement that said Vonn was in stable condition and in the hands of American and Italian doctors.
‘When we do have an update,’ Ryder said, ‘you guys will definitely be getting that information.’
Hurt, O’Brien and Moltzon will make their debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina in the women’s team combined event on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Hurt is paired with speed skier Keely Cashman. O’Brien will ski with Bella Wright. Moltzon is teamed with Jackie Wiles, who finished fourth in Sunday’s downhill.
And Johnson is paired with Mikaela Shiffrin, the best women’s slalom skier of all time, making them one of the heavy favorites for gold.
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.