Shiffrin readies for first Olympic event — team combined with gold medalist Breezy Johnson

By John Henderson, for CPR News

Tuesday was expected to be the day the state of Colorado would get a double dose of gold. Two Colorado women would win gold medals in the same event, crowning their illustrious careers together high in the Italian Alps.

Then it all changed by fate and a gate.

Lindsey Vonn’s broken left leg suffered when her arm clipped a gate in Sunday’s downhill knocked her out of these Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, including Tuesday’s inaugural team combined event. Vonn, 41, had led the downhill World Cup standings and, combined with Mikaela Shiffrin’s annual stranglehold on the slalom, the pair seemed to be the heavy favorite for a gold medal.

Instead, Vonn had surgery in Treviso, two hours south of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and medics Monday were determining long-term damage to her leg.

Shiffrin, though, won’t stand atop the mountain alone.

The U.S. Ski Team announced its four team pairings and Shiffrin teams with the new hottest downhiller on the circuit, one who seems to rise to the highest occasions, such as, oh, World Championships and the Olympics.

And she’s not too far from Colorado, either. Call her a neighbor.

Breezy Johnson of Jackson Hole, Wyo., enters the event fresh off winning downhill gold Sunday. She also had the fastest training time Saturday. Combine that with her downhill gold in last year’s World Championships and teaming with Shiffrin for gold in the combined at

Worlds, the odds for gold likely haven’t changed much.

In last February’s World Championships in Saalbach, Austria, Vonn was expected to team with Shiffrin in the combined. But Johnson won gold in the downhill, moving her up to the first team.

Johnson’s downhill run had them fourth. After Shiffrin clocked the third-best slalom of the day, the top three teams’ slalomists faltered and they won gold, Shiffrin’s eighth world championship.

“I am so excited for team combined,” Shiffrin said in her Saturday press conference. “It was so much fun to compete in last year’s World Championships. Well, obviously, when you win gold it’s really fun.”

The team combined event was born last season out of fading interest in the traditional individual combined and a quest to give more athletes a chance at medals. The individual combined had just one skier do downhill and slalom. The fastest combined time won gold.

However, fewer downhill skiers race slalom and vice-versa. Shiffrin hasn’t raced a downhill all season; Vonn didn’t race slalom this season, and Johnson has never raced slalom in World Cup.

Fewer countries had skiers good at both which watered down the competition, leaving the individual combined more of an afterthought in the Olympics. Combining two women added a team element to a largely independent sport. It also emphasized a country’s depth.

NBC is hoping it’ll add to TV ratings.

“I’m really excited for the team combined,” Johnson said moments after winning her downhill gold. “I’m really excited about another crack at this slope … It’s really a great way to combine the two different sides of the women’s. I think it could be a really good event for us.”

The bright lights won’t blind Johnson. She’s not only playing with house money – which is actually gold – but she thrives in the biggest moments. In this season’s World Cup, she has made only one podium: a third in Super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Jan. 31.

Yet she has three gold medals in Worlds and Olympics.

“I really do try to keep it small,” said Johnson who will also race Super-G Thursday. “I’m really grateful we’re staying at a hotel that the U.S. Ski Team paid a boatload of money for us to do that. It allows me to keep the moments small. It’s just another race.”

The problem with Johnson’s prowess is she hardly had any time to celebrate Sunday with family and friends.

“We still have two more races,” said Ales Sopotnik, Johnson’s ski technician, after Johnson’s win. “We have to be really focused, really down to earth. We are now finishing, eating lunch and going back to work. That’s it.”

The downhill portion of the race begins at 2:30 a.m. MST with the slalom following at 6 a.m. MST.

The United States’ other three teams are (downhiller listed first): Jackie Wiles-Paul Moltzen, Bella Wright-Nina-O’Brien and Keely Cashman-A.J. Hart.

John Henderson is a former Denver Post sportswriter who lives in Rome.