Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson didn’t add to her medal haul during the women’s super-G on Thursday, but she left Tofane with something precious anyway: an engagement ring.
Johnson, who won gold on Sunday in the downhill, crashed out of the super-G after she clipped a gate with one of her poles, sending her tumbling into the safety fence. However, there was some consolation: her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, proposed to her near the finish line. Surrounded by members of the US Ski Team, Johnson said “Yes!” and the two embraced.
Johnson said she had an idea Watkins would propose, although the exact location and timing was still a surprise. “I had told him that I always dreamed of getting proposed to at the Olympics, so I had an inkling,” Johnson said. “It felt fitting to kind of combine two of my loves. And I don’t know, it’s a special place at the Olympics. I feel like there’s a lot of mystique around it. And also you get free photography.”
The couple met on a dating app and Watkins, who works in construction, said he initially had no idea who Johnson was. “I was a little taken aback. I had very little knowledge of ski racing and everything else,” said Watkins.
Johnson said she was delighted to be leaving the Olympics with a ring and a medal. “I mean, who doesn’t want to leave with a couple pieces of metal?” she said.
