Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson will be leaving Italy with a gold medal and an engagement ring after her boyfriend proposed to her at the finish line in Cortina on Thursday.
Following a disappointing performance in the women’s super-G, which saw her crash out of the race and fail to add to her medal haul, Johnson’s longtime partner Connor Watkins ensured it would still be a day for her to savor by popping the question.
Surrounded by members of the US Ski Team, the American athlete said ‘Yes!’ before embracing Watkins and showing off her ring in a heartwarming moment.
Johnson, 30, extended her left hand to show off the new bling – a blue sapphire, surrounded by white sapphires, set in white gold.
The joyful proposal came about an hour after her bid to reach the podium in the super-G ended with a crash. Her right pole clipped a gate high in the course, sending her tumbling into the catch fence.
After the crash, Johnson pulled herself to her feet and was unharmed, meaning Watkins was still able to ask for her hand in marriage.
Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson will be leaving Italy with a medal and a ring
Johnson’s boyfriend Connor Watkins proposed after she crashed out of the women’s super-G
As well as the ring, he also gave his new fiancée a piece of wood which was carved with: ‘Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?’ – lyrics from the hit Taylor Swift song ‘The Alchemy.’
Watkins said after planning the moment for a year that it had ‘gone above and beyond our wildest imagination.’
Johnson admits she had a feeling he was going to propose after confessing that it was her ‘dream’ to get engaged at the Olympics, albeit after ideally capturing a gold medal.
‘I mean, that was my hope!’ she said, via NBC News. ‘But 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.’
The couple now plan to spend Thursday celebrating with family and friends in Cortina before heading to Livigno, the site of other Olympic competitions.
While she didn’t pick up a medal in the women’s super-G, Johnson joined Lindsey Vonn as the only American female to win the women’s downhill on Sunday after capturing her first ever Olympic gold.
The proposal came an hour after her bid to reach the podium in the super-G ended with a crash
She then missed out on the chance to land a second medal in the team combined event on Tuesday, before crashing out of the super-G on Thursday.
Back in 2022, Johnson came out as bisexual after posting on social media that she ‘wanted to be open about who I am.’
‘To those [LGBTQ+] people out there who feel a little different and want to see people like them at the top I am here to represent that we are out there, we are normal, and we can do whatever we want,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘To the trolls who want to hate, hate doesn’t beat love. To those who have no idea what I’m saying, head over to Google if ya want to know.’