Breezy Johnson is sitting out the Beijing Games after some training crashes in January left her knee in need of surgery. Johnson was having the best season of her career and would have been a medal favorite in the women's downhill in China. Beijing2022
, the reigning gold medalist in the women’s downhill, is hoping to get there, too, even though she sprained her left knee and fractured a bone in her leg during a race in January.
in June 2019. Still, those setbacks weren’t going to keep her from getting back on the slopes in time for the trip to the 2022 Games.“Everybody accepts the risks. It’s a dangerous sport, but that’s what makes it an exciting sport. And that’s why these guys do it, at the same time, right?” said John Kucera, the 2009 downhill world champion who is an Alpine coach for Canada. “The timing of injuries is something you can’t control, unfortunately.
Every Games, it seems, prominent Alpine racers sit out for a reason that has nothing to do with talent or speed. Some recent examples: In 2010, Kucera was joined by Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami and Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather . In 2014, American Lindsey Vonn . In 2018, American Julia Mancuso and Canada’s Erik Guay .
For Johnson, it was hard to see her friends on the U.S. Olympic team post on social media about traveling to China and receiving their uniforms. She, too, gets the gear, which is bittersweet.