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Johnson wins shock world downhill gold, US teammate Vonn 15th / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP
Johnson wins shock world downhill gold, US teammate Vonn 15th
American Breezy Johnson turned on the afterburners to scorch to a shock gold in the women's downhill at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Saturday, while returning veteran teammate Lindsey Vonn finished 15th.
Johnson, with just seven World Cup podiums to her name, clocked 1min 41.29sec down the 2.9km-long Ulli Maier course in front of 15,000 raucous, flag-waving spectators in the Austrian resort.
Austria's Mirjam Puchner took silver, at 0.15sec, with Czech all-rounder Ester Ledecka claiming bronze (+0.21).
Vonn, in her 21st world championship start, came down in 1:43.25 to the delight of the crowd, unable to press her claims for a ninth world championship medal at her ninth champs.
A fan favourite in Austria due to her fluent command of German, Vonn blew kisses as she exited after her impressive top-15 finish.
She retired after a downhill bronze at the 2019 Are worlds, but made a comeback this season at the age of 40 after a knee reconstruction that she said had left her pain-free for the first time in years.
What made Johnson's victory all the more remarkable was that she was the first out of the start hut in brilliant, sunny conditions in the Austrian resort.
Such is that a rarity that Patrick Ortlieb is the only other racer to have won a global title wearing number one, the Austrian taking the Olympic men's downhill title in 1992.
Hurtling down into Saalbach at speeds of 140km/h and negotiating jumps of up to 38 metres, Johnson best negotiated the compressions on an icy, circuitous terrain that proved to be far more testing than many pundits – and racers – had predicted pre-race.
Many skiers were pulled apart by two sweeping turns coming into the finish area, losing valuable seconds by sliding slightly wide on the transitions.
Johnson's previous best world champs result was a ninth in the downhill in Cortina in 2021, while she was seventh in the discipline in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, having missed the 2022 Beijing Games through injury.
There was disappointment for Italy as Nicol Delago, super-G silver medallist Federica Brignone and 2018 Olympic downhill gold medallist Sofia Goggia, who also won silver in Beijing in 2022, came in eighth, 10th and 16th in a 33-strong field.
Super-G winner Stephanie Venier of Austria was ninth, at 0.99sec, while teammate Cornelia Huetter was fourth (+0.34).
There was a late charge by Germany's Emma Aicher that saw her lead up top before wilting, albeit finishing a very creditable sixth, just behind American Lauren Macuga.
Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami had a day to forget, skiing out.
Q.Bernardi--INP
