U.S. skier Breezy Johnson wins women's world downhill gold

SAALBACH, Austria, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Breezy Johnson won women's downhill gold for the United States, after going first out of the start hut and setting an unbeatable pace, at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Saturday.

The medal was a first in a major event for the 29-year-old, who returned last December from a 14-month ban for three anti-doping whereabouts failures and has had a career punctuated by injury.

Austria's Mirjam Puchner took silver on home snow and Czech Ester Ledecka the bronze.

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