The Alpine skier was the first from Team USA to win a medal at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.
WASHINGTON — U.S. skier Breezy Johnson became the first member of Team USA to win a gold medal at the 2026 Olympics — and then the medal broke.
Johnson, 30, of Idaho, became only the second American woman ever to win the Olympic downhill when she finished in 1 minute and 36.10 seconds, holding off Emma Aicher of Germany by just 0.04 seconds. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill winner and 2022 silver medalist, finished with the bronze.
After receiving her gold medal, Johnson was celebrating by jumping up and down, and the medal came off its ribbon.
There’s a piece at the top of the medal where the ribbon is supposed to fit into, and that piece broke.
“It’s definitely heavy. Heavier than I expected,” Johnson told reporters. “I think that’s maybe why it broke.”
It turns out she’s not the only member of Team USA dealing with this issue. Figure skater Alysa Liu posted on her Instagram a video of her gold medal from the team event without the ribbon.
Johnson was just the sixth racer of the day and found speed with a risk-taking trip along the iconic Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina. She felt confident it was good enough for a medal, but not as sure if it would be gold.
“But I hoped that it would be enough,” she said. “I just tried to keep it rolling. I knew it was fast in some of the places where I made mistakes. I was like, ‘Did I just make a mistake or did I make a mistake because I was going fast?’ That’s the line that you’re always trying to walk, and today was enough.”
Johnson won her medal on a day marred by the crash of her teammate Lindsey Vonn, who was the first U.S. skier to win the women’s downhill.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.