U.S. Olympic skier Breezy Johnson once again fell short of winning her second medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Thursday when she crashed during the women’s super-G final. However, a pleasant surprise awaited her at the bottom of the mountain, where her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, stood at the finish line.
Watkins got down on one knee and proposed to the 30-year-old, presenting a silver ring featuring a blue gemstone at its center. Johnson was visibly emotional and quickly accepted the proposal before sharing a kiss with Watkins as friends and teammates cheered around them.
In addition to the ring, Watkins made another heartfelt gesture by giving her a small piece of wood engraved with lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “The Alchemy.” It read: “Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”
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Mikaela Shiffrin, Johnson’s childhood friend and longtime teammate, couldn’t have been happier for the couple. Taking to her Instagram story, the two-time Olympic champion wrote, " OMG!! Congrats @breezyjohnsonski 🥳🥹😭"
Shiffrin, who got engaged to Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in early 2024, began her Winter Olympics campaign Tuesday in the women’s team combined event alongside Johnson. Johnson posted the fastest time in the downhill portion of the race, giving Shiffrin a prime opportunity to end her eight-year Olympic medal drought.
However, Shiffrin was slow out of the gates in her slalom run and struggled to find her rhythm, ultimately finishing 15th out of 18 competitors. It marked one of her worst slalom performances, as she recorded her slowest time in the discipline since 2012. Johnson's and Shiffrin's combined time placed them fourth, just 0.06 seconds shy of the podium.
Johnson shared that winning an Olympic gold medal with Shiffrin had been her dream, but described the disappointing finish as a learning experience. While that goal remained unfulfilled, getting engaged at the Olympics was also a dream of hers, and she couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending to her campaign.
Shiffrin’s struggles, meanwhile, were surprising, given that 71 of her 108 World Cup victories have come in slalom. However, she will have an opportunity to rebound, with the individual giant slalom and slalom events scheduled for Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.