United States women’s downhill skier Breezy Johnson pulled out of next month’s Winter Olympics due to a knee injury.
The 26-year-old Johnson said Tuesday that she injured the knee during a training crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, last week.
“I crashed in Cortina the other day and immediately felt a massive crack in my knee,” Johnson wrote on Instagram. “It was a large chunk of cartilage that is partially dislodged.”
Johnson said she considered competing in Beijing despite the injury.
“But I don’t think that that is realistic or smart,” Johnson said. “I could do more damage and I certainly don’t think I will be skiing my best.”
Johnson placed seventh in the downhill in the 2018 Games at Pyeongchang. She said she plans to make a run at making the 2026 Olympics in Italy, where the competition will be on the same hill in which he was injured.
“While I always wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, I have a lot of other goals in ski racing,” Johnson wrote. “Goals that I can work on for the next four years before I return, hopefully, to the hill that stole this Olympic dream from me, for another shot at that gold medal. 2026 baby.”
–Field Level Media