American Breezy Johnson, crowned world downhill champion last winter, expects the toughest race in history next February at the Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
"I think the women's downhill in particular... is going to be the most competitive alpine ski race that has ever taken place," she told AFP on Wednesday during a training camp at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
"The women race there every year, it's most athletes' favourite mountain on tour so everybody skis really well at their favourite mountain and then to top that off you have... the Olympics and the pressure and (the) amazing skiing that (that) brings.
"I think everybody will be giving their best skiing and that'll make it a really cool event."
The spectacular "delle Tofane" slope dominates Cortina d'Ampezzo, the pearl of the Dolomites, where the women's Winter Olympics alpine skiing events will take place in February.
"Downhill is about blending the skier with the mountain and Cortina kind of is the epitome of that," added Johnson, 29, who will be among the favourites for gold, having won the world title last February in Saalbach, Austria.
She has managed eight World Cup podiums, although none in Cortina.
'CAMARADERIE'
"I have this like weird ability to really generate speed on Cortina and that's sort of my superpower, but it's also my Achilles heel. I can get going really fast there but it means that I am that much more likely to make a mistake," said the skier, who was born Breanna Johnson.
She recorded a speed of more than 138 km/h during her world title run in Saalbach.
Johnson warned, however, that she will have to earn her place at the Olympics in a very dense American team featuring veteran Lindsey Vonn, back at 41, rising star Lauren Macuga and Jacqueline Wiles, who has already stood on the podium twice in Cortina.
"I think that it's going to be definitely a very tough team to make," the Idaho skier said, but added that the four have "great camaraderie".
And she said that she tries to learn from her rivals.
"Lauren Macuga is such a buttery skier and she's very supple" while Vonn "has super hard intensity so I've always tried to take that from her".
Johnson knows that making the team, whether in the downhill, super-G or even the new team combined, which is making its first Olympic appearance, will be tough.
In February, she took advantage of this new format – where one skier competes in a downhill and the other in a slalom – to win a second gold medal, alongside long-time friend Mikaela Shiffrin, who is expected to focus in Cortina on the technical events, the slalom and giant slalom.
"It was a really special moment, both of us had been through so much at that point and then to team up together and be able to be world champions together... was really cool and it was a really fun experience," Johnson said.
The event combined "a super high pressure situation where you feel the weight of somebody else's dreams on your shoulder but also you feel somebody else who gets to carry your dream halfway and that's super cool."
'ANOTHER CHAPTER'
Johnson, who has never won a World Cup, welcomes her 2025 successes with detachment, although they ended several dark years – between a serious injury that kept her out of the Games in 2022 and a 14-month suspension for failing to comply with anti-doping whereabouts obligations.
"I just try not to think too much about the past, just move forward and keep working and keep trying to execute my plans. I know that I'm good enough when I ski well," Johnson said.
This season, she hopes to "finish another chapter" in a career full of twists and turns.