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.

She prevailed by 15 hundredths of a second over Austrian Mirjam Puchner in Saalbach, Austria, on Saturday, exactly one year before the Milan Cortina Olympic downhill is scheduled. Czech Ester Ledecká earned bronze.

“It’s a little bit nerve-racking to sit in the leader’s chair, but it’s way harder to sit there at the top waiting for your run,” Johnson said on Peacock. “I was definitely grateful to run No. 1.”

ALPINE SKIING WORLDS: Results | Broadcast Schedule

Johnson became the first American to win a world downhill title since Lindsey Vonn in 2009. Vonn placed 15th Saturday in her first downhill at worlds in six years.

The other Americans to claim world downhill gold were Hilary Lindh (1997) and Picabo Street (1996), plus Bode Miller in the men’s race in 2005.

Johnson, from Victor, Idaho, was born “Breanna,” but her grandmother convinced her mom to borrow the unique name of a neighbor. Breezy was put on skis in the family driveway for 10-yard glides at age 3.

She debuted at the Olympics in 2018, then went 22 months between World Cup races due to injuries, learning to sleep with her knees on bolsters. She returned to make seven downhill podiums in 2020 and 2021, all second- and third-place finishes.

She was ranked second in the world in downhill on Jan. 21, 2022, when she tore cartilage in her right knee in a training run crash. That ruled her out of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Johnson did not race in the 2023-24 World Cup season. Two months after the season ended, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced in May that Johnson was suspended 14 months for failing to properly provide her whereabouts for out-of-competition drug testing.

The ban was backdated to Oct. 10, 2023, the date of her third whereabouts failure that triggered the ban.

Athletes can be banned up to two years for whereabouts failures. Johnson’s level of fault was “relatively low given the circumstances of the case,” according to USADA.

It took eight races this season for her to break back into the top 10 with a fourth-place finish in the last downhill before worlds on Jan. 25. This week, she was second-fastest in the first two of three downhill training runs.

“It’s not like coming back from injury,” Johnson said, according to a SkiRacing.com article in January. “With all my injuries, I always watched the World Cup tour. Last year I couldn’t. There was just too much frustration.”

Worlds continue Sunday with the men’s downhill, live at 5:30 a.m. ET on Peacock.

Swiss Marco Odermatt, who won Friday’s super-G, bids to become the first man to repeat as downhill world champ since countryman Bernhard Russi in 1972 (when the Olympics counted as world championships, too).

Marco Odermatt could win three gold medals at the World Alpine Skiing Championships.

FIS World Alpine Skiing Championships 2025 Results — Women’s Downhill

Gold: Breezy Johnson (USA) — 1:41.29
Silver: Mirjam Puchner (AUT) — +.15
Bronze: Ester Ledecka (CZE) — +.21
4. Cornelia Huetter (AUT) — +.34
5. Lauren Macuga (USA) — +.38
6. Emma Aicher (GER) — +.48
7. Corinne Suter (SUI) — +.62
8. Nicol Delago (ITA) — +.76
9. Stephanie Venier (AUT) — +.99
10. Federica Brignone (ITA) — +1.19
15. Lindsey Vonn (USA) — +1.96
16. Sofia Goggia (ITA) — +1.97
DNF. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI)
DNF. Jacqueline Wiles (USA)