Skier Breezy Johnson, a one time Western Washington English major, did it again on Tuesday.
Johnson, 29, laid down another solid downhill run in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, to win her second gold medal in four days at the Alpine World Championships.
[ Read more: Breezy Johnson wins women’s world downhill title ]
After a stunning victory on Saturday, Feb. 8, Johnson teamed with skiing great Mikaela Shiffrin to win the new team combined race on a drama-filled day.
Johnson, of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, opened the competition with the fourth-fastest time in the downhill portion. Shiffrin, 29, had the third-fastest run in the slalom to give the Americans the victory in a combined time of 2 minutes, 40.89 seconds.
The skiers finished 0.39 of a second ahead of the Swiss powerhouse team of Lara Gut-Behrami and Wendy Holdener. Super-G winner Stephanie Venier and Katharina Truppe of Austria finished third.
Super-G bronze medalist Lauren Macuga led the downhill leg but her partner Paula Moltzan couldn’t hold on as the Americans finished fourth, 0.11 seconds off the podium.
Shiffrin, who has known Johnson since they roomed together as 11-year-old racers, earned her 15th medal at a World Championships to match the record held by Christl Cranz of Germany since the 1930s.
Johnson, who returned this season from a 14-month ban for missing three random drug tests, is suddenly a serious contender to make her third Olympic team next year in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
“It’s super cool to be hitting my stride and she’s obviously been on hers for a decade or more,” said Johnson, who suffered a knee injury just before the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and did not compete.
Shiffrin, whose 99 World Cup victories are more than any man or woman in history, did not expect to race on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
She suffered a deep puncture wound on the side of her abdomen on Nov. 30 when crashing in the giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont.
Shiffrin said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the fall that had led to surgery to drain fluid. She announced Monday that she would withdraw from the giant slalom event, scheduled for Thursday.
Johnson persuaded her longtime friend to race in the team combined, which will replace the individual combined in making its Olympic debut next year.
“I haven’t felt like I wanted to be here,” Shiffrin told reporters in Austria. “(Breezy) was like, ‘Hey, it’s not for the medals. Do it because this is crazy fun. Do it because you like skiing and because you want to be here.’”
Shiffrin said since her first race back from injury on Jan. 30, “I’ve been saying, ‘It’s scary, but I want to be here.’ The last two weeks, I haven’t felt that a lot, and I haven’t felt like I wanted to be here. I felt like it’s too (expletive) terrifying.”
She told Johnson at a reception after that race that the experience “tops the list of any medal I’ve ever won.”
Johnson said, “I wanted to help her because I feel like she deserves it, after everything that she’s been through, and all the ways that she’s helped me from when I was just a little kid.”
Starting in 2013, Shiffrin had won a World Championship medal 14 times in 17 individual race starts. She is expected to race on Saturday in the slalom, an event in which she has won four times.
Johnson, who attended WWU seven years ago, told reporters how much Shiffrin has impressed her.
“The obliques are really important for skiing,” Johnson said. “It’s not your knee or your shoulder, it’s your freaking core. You need that.”
Shiffrin’s coach Karin Harjo — a University of Washington graduate — described the skier as “brave and courageous every time we step out here so I’m blown away by her.”
Elliott Almond's outdoor column appears monthly. Email: elliottalmond4@gmail.com.
