Breezy Johnson crowned her comeback season to skiing after a 14-month suspension with a gold medal on Saturday, winning the downhill at the Alpine world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

The American finished 0.15 seconds ahead of silver medalist Mirjam Puchner of Austria. Czech skier Ester Ledecka came 0.21 behind in third to take bronze.

It’s Johnson first medal from a major event and came two months after she returned from a ban for three “whereabouts” violations of anti-doping rules.

“I was thinking about it this morning and I was like, it’s a privilege to be able to play the game, to be able to be here,” Johnson said. “When you know that, going in, you have a little bit of freedom, because no matter what happens, you’ve got the chance to try.”

Lauren Macuga, who has had a breakout World Cup season and led her teammate Johnson after two splits, came 0.38 behind in fifth, while Lindsey Vonn trailed by 1.96 seconds in 15th.

Vonn smiled after finishing and waved and blew a kiss to the spectators, then hugged Johnson in the leader seat.

The first starter, Johnson led the race from start to finish, mainly thanks to a near-perfect second half of her run, where she posted the fastest split times in three of the four sections.

Even with no competitor’s time to compare to, Johnson pumped her first when she completed her run.

“I knew I made some mistakes, but I also knew that I charged and gave everything I could,” Johnson, 29, said. “So, I knew it wasn’t the perfect run but I knew it was good and then, when I came across the line and saw it was a low 41, I was like, maybe...”

COMBAT SPORTS

Irish boxer John Cooney has died a week after being taken into intensive care following his Celtic super-featherweight title defeat to Nathan Howells in Belfast, Northern Ireland

The death of Cooney, 28, was announced in a statement published by his promoter, Mark Dunlop, on behalf of the Cooney family and his fiancee, Emmaleen.

“After a week of battling for his life John Cooney has sadly passed away,” the statement said. “He was a much loved son, brother and partner and it will take us all a lifetime to forget how special he was. RIP John ‘the Kid’ Cooney.”

Cooney’s fight with Howells was stopped in the ninth round at Ulster Hall.

Cooney subsequently underwent surgery after it was discovered he had an intracranial hemorrhage.

The bout with Welsh boxer Howells was Cooney’s first defense of the Celtic super-featherweight title.

Cooney won the title with a win over Liam Gaynor in Dublin in November 2023, but spent a year out of the ring with a hand injury. He returned in October with a victory over Tampela Maharusi.

NFL

Longtime NFL player and coach Dick Jauron, who led the Chicago Bears to the playoffs and was voted AP coach of the year in 2001, died Saturday. He was 74.

The Bears confirmed his death, which came one day before Philadelphia — where Jauron briefly served as an assistant to current Chiefs coach Andy Reid — played Kansas City in the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Jauron was a two-sport star at Yale in the early 1970s, and he was drafted by both the Detroit Lions in the NFL draft and the St. Louis Cardinals in the Major League Baseball amateur draft. He ultimately made football his lifelong pursuit, beginning with five seasons as a defensive back in Detroit and three more with Cincinnati before his retirement in 1980.

The well-liked Jauron moved into coaching and five years later was hired by the Bills as a defensive backs coach. He went on to coach defensive backs in Green Bay and became friends with Reid, who was an assistant offensive line and tight ends coach.

In 1995, Jauron was hired by Tom Coughlin as the defensive coordinator for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars, and he parlayed success there into the head coaching job in Chicago. Jauron had just one winning record in five seasons with the Bears, winning the NFC North in 2001 before losing to the Eagles — then coached by Reid — in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Jauron was fired in 2003 and became the defensive coordinator in Detroit, where he served as the interim coach for five games in 2005. He spent the next four seasons as the head coach in Buffalo but never had a winning record.

He finished with a 60-82 record and one playoff berth over parts of 10 seasons as a head coach.

TRACK AND FIELD

American middle-distance runners Grant Fisher and Yared Nuguse each walked away from the Millrose Games with a win and a world indoor record.

Their victories were all part of a fast-paced day at The Armory in New York that was highlighted by Fisher toppling the mark in the 3,000 meters and Nuguse in the mile.

Fisher, 27, set the tone with a time of 7 minutes, 22.91 seconds. He broke the record of 7:23.81 set by Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma two years ago.

Fisher, the bronze medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Paris Olympics, needed a strong kick just to hold on for the win. Close behind him was Cole Hocker, who finished in 7:23.14 and also would have broken the world indoor mark. Hocker is the reigning Olympic 1,500-meter champion.

Soon after, it was Nuguse’s turn to chase history. He finished the Wanamaker Mile in a world-record time of 3:46.63. It eclipsed the time of 3:47.01 that Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha turned in nearly six years ago.