“Breezy” Breanna Noble Johnson grew up in Victor, Idaho near the Grand Targhee ski area and started skiing at age 3, chasing her older brother down the slopes. Her family saw her talent and determination, but her competitive intensity surprised her coaches. “It threw a lot of adults off because they wanted me to have fun and not be that serious about [skiing],” but at that point there was no stopping her as she worked tenaciously to enter competition at the highest level.
She entered high school as “Breezy Johnson” as she started pursuing her goals at the exclusive skiing prep-school academy Rowmark, one of the nation’s first and often highest rated high school ski teams. Breezy made the USA ski team a year after graduating and is now a freshman in the honors program studying at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.
When Breezy had already qualified for the national team and was racing in the World Cup a year before the Pyeongchang Olympics, when she caught an edge on a run and was flung into an awkward pile. Her legs split at a painful angle and she tumbled head over heels, but as she picked herself up she knew the injury wasn’t going to be a career-ender. Breezy recovered quickly after hobbling around campus on crutches for awhile.
Breezy qualified for the Olympic Skiing Team in 2018, but even that lofty goal didn’t guarantee her getting a run in the Olympics. “It’s a really deep speed team, lots of great girls, but only four get to ski.” Even though she was competing against other very talented women, Breezy ended up in two Olympic runs, where she took seventh in the Downhill event and 14th in the Super-G. With several showings in international competition, this WWU student one is to look out for. Breezy joined Mark in The Zone to talk about her time and competing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics that you can hear below.
