Two Teton County athletes, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski racer Breezy Johnson and Alta’s freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf, reached the highest level of their respective sports this week.
Johnson took the victory in the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Saalbach, Austria Feb. 8 in the downhill event.
Kauf, an Olympic silver medalist, landed back-to-back gold medals in the individual and dual mogul events in the highly anticipated Deer Valley World Cup stop in Utah. Currently ranked second in the world in mogul skiing, Kauf competed out of the Grand Targhee Ski & Snowboard Foundation before making the move to Colorado and Utah.
Both athletes have eyes set on the Cortina 2026 Olympic Games in Italy, now just under a year out.
Wearing bib No. 1 in the Austrian Alpine resort town, Johnson watched from the finish line as the next 32 skiers tried to beat her time of 1 minute 41 seconds.
Johnson wasn’t just the fastest on the track. After topping out at 86 mph mid-race she hit one of the fastest clocked speeds ever in the women’s side of the sport.
“I’ve worked so hard and the run wasn’t perfect, but I tried to charge everywhere and I can’t believe it,” Johnson said to the crowd of 15,000 spectators ahead of the finish arena medal ceremony.
Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club’s Alpine Director Kristin Waddle was stoked to see the “hometown kid” crush the races on such a big stage, especially given that Johnson has podiumed several times on the world cup circuit but was yet to beat the silver medal position.
“It’s kind of even the Olympics for ski racing so it’s such a huge race to win for her career,” Waddle said. “It’s incredible.”
Johnson raced out of Jackson until high school when she attended Rowmark Academy out of Salt Lake City.
Waddle added that she occasionally trains with the team when she’s home from the world cup circuit for the winter holidays.
Three days after her downhill win, Johnson was on the top step of the podium again, this time with Mikaela Shiffrin in the newly debuted team combined event, where Johnson competed in downhill and Shiffrin in slalom with the two times added.
Johnson’s win is especially significant on the heels of a season-long ban for missing three ‘whereabouts check-ins’ with the national federation’s anti-doping organization. Before that, she was out battling injuries that forced her to skip the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
