Mikaela Shiffrin’s teammate makes a similarly heartbreaking confession after returning from a 14-month ban

No Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn at the 2025 World Championships? No problem. Because a new ski duo is set to take the world by storm. And it features three-time Olympic medallist Shiffrin and America’s newest golden girl. One will handle the Slalom portion, while the other will dominate the downhill as part of the team combined event. Aside from their shared love of skiing, they have one significant similarity. And that gives us the impression that they’d make an excellent pairing!

Mikaela Shiffrin withdrew from the GS event at the World Championships on February 9, 2025, citing mental health issues, specifically PTSD from her November 30 Killington crash. Heartbreaking? Sure. However, her team’s combined events partner may understand exactly how she feels. She’s been through it too. And who says this? Breezy Johnson herself admitted this on social media. Skiing is both mental and physical, and it appears that these two skiers are well aware of this!

Breezy Johnson, Shiffrin’s World Championships partner, shared the 29-year-old’s post on Instagram, adding, “I have also struggled with mild PTSD after injury.”Yes, it turns out she’s experienced a similar plunge in her life. And the aftermath of that harrowing period still pulls her back today. “I had many months to heal both my body and mind before racing and I still struggle skiing in slush/unforozen snow and used to get panic attacks in those conditions.”

However, Breezy Johnson’s experience with both agonising injuries and PTSD gives her insight into how the recovery is anything but time-bound. It’s no surprise that she’s standing up for her partner Mikaela Shiffrin’s resilience and giving her a well-deserved shoutout. “Miki had little time to recover. In her story, she expressed gratitude for her presence and her willingness to share her struggle.

Breezy Johnson is just the right person to give Shiffrim this advice. After all, the skier has suffered multiple injuries throughout her career, with the first three in her knee occurring in 2016. Another ACL tear in 2018 made her nervous, but a freak accident in June 2019 left her with a PCL and MCL tear in the opposite knee. That’s when she realised she needed to see a sports psychologist about her mental health. because “When you haven’t raced you have nothing to counter the voice in your head saying ‘maybe you suck.'”

Today, Shiffrin finds her in a similar position.Mikaela Shiffrin announced on February 9 that she will withdraw from the individual giant slalom races due to her ongoing mental health struggles caused by her injury. In the same post, she mentioned Breezy Johnson, saying, “What a journey she [Johnson] has been on…”She understands the mental challenges of this sport better than anyone. “She fought hard to become a World Champion, and her journey has inspired me tremendously.”

Clearly, even Shiffrin understands that Johnson chose not to be defined by her fears. Alternatively, she could avoid allowing the mental toll to weigh heavily on her. It’s no surprise she was able to overcome a particularly difficult period in her career recently. This time, it was not the injuries!

Mikaela Shiffrin seeks advice from a partner who recently returned from a ban.

Breezy Johnson sped through the Downhill race last Saturday, making for an impressive sight. Johnson won the Downhill World Championships after dominating the race on the Zwolferkogel course in Saalbach, Austria. She finished in 1:41.29 minutes while travelling at a record speed of 138.5 kilometres per hour. Clearly, her time was commendable, despite the fact that she had returned from an extended absence.

But there was a time when such a performance seemed impossible. After missing the Beijing Olympics, Breezy Johnson failed to report to the US Anti-Doping Agency three times in a year. As a result of this violation, she was suspended for 14 months. On Saturday, she admitted that the first missed test “was my fault.” The second one was attributed to a confusing scenario in which she texted her location to the incorrect number. On the third occasion, “there was a glitch on the app.”