OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:17 AM – Thursday, February 12, 2026
American skier Breezy Johnson left the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics with a different shade of gold for her collection. While her week ended on a difficult note, crashing out of Thursday’s Super-G event after getting caught on a gate, it followed a career-defining performance just days earlier.
On Sunday, the 30-year-old dominated the legendary Olimpia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo, capturing the Olympic gold medal in the downhill. In a high-stakes race, she managed to edge out Germany’s Emma Aicher and Italian favorite Sofia Goggia, who took silver and bronze respectively.
The victory was made even more unforgettable at the finish line. Surrounded by her fellow competitors, Johnson’s longtime boyfriend, Connor Watkins, dropped to one knee to propose. He presented her with a stunning white gold engagement ring featuring a central blue sapphire accented by white sapphires.
Though Thursday’s race didn’t go her way, Johnson departs Italy as both an Olympic champion and a bride-to-be.
A wooden keepsake appeared in photos alongside Johnson’s new ring, featuring lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song “The Alchemy,” which contains references to sports. It read, “Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”
Watkins, the skier’s now-fiancé, said he had planned the moment for a year. Johnson added that she “may have told him that [she] always kind of had the dream of getting engaged at the Olympics.”
“It’s definitely a lot more crazy with everything just happening all at once, and the reality of it is so different than the way you imagined, and so much better,” Johnson continued.
Watkins later remarked that he was “really hoping that I could get in the finish area and do it the way I wanted. And it turned out we could, and we’re just super excited.”
Lindsey Vonn, another American skier, similarly suffered a crash after hitting a gate. The five-time Olympian, who had come out of retirement to compete in Italy at age 41, hooked the fourth gate and spun as she fell. Her skis failed to release, preventing her from protecting her legs. She was later airlifted to a hospital, where she underwent surgery for a severely fractured tibia in her left leg.
Late last week, Johnson was cheered on by her now-fiancé as she became the second American woman to win gold in the Olympic downhill ski race, following Vonn’s victory in 2010. It marked the first gold medal awarded to an American at these Games and Johnson’s first Olympic gold.
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