US skier Breezy Johnson recovering from another knee injury

Breezy Johnson's social media post captured a moment more than her mood: "Sometimes you reach the top of the hill, only to realize there is a mountain beyond."

"Hang in there," the American ski racer's supporters commented. "The view will be spectacular," they offered.

The truth: Johnson was crestfallen after tearing the PCL and MCL ligaments in her left knee following a June training wipeout.

FILE - In this March 14, 2018, file photo United States' Breezy Johnson speeds down the course during a women's downhill, at the alpine ski World Cup finals in Are, Sweden. Johnson tore a ligament in her knee during a second straight offseason training session. (AP PhotoAlessandro Trovati, File)

She was just back on the snow, too, after sitting out all last season with a torn right ACL .

Another surgery. More grueling rehab. More mental hurdles. Possibly another missed season.

Only, she couldn't have that last part.

So Johnson and her medical team devised an eight-step plan to get her back in the start gate by as early as late January. She needed that incentive for peace of mind — to reach the proverbial summit of that next mountainous challenge.

"Look, every time you're not on snow, you're at zero risk of getting injured on snow. And anytime you are, you're at some sort of risk of getting injured on snow," the 23-year-old Johnson said in a phone interview from Park City, Utah, where she's rehabbing. "I know that as well as anybody. Those are things that haunt me in the middle of the night.

"I can either sit around and wait or I can just face my fears. I'd rather face my fears and do what I love than let those fears destroy my career."

The last time she stepped into a World Cup downhill starting gate was on March 14, 2018. She finished eighth that day in Sweden. It was a month after taking seventh in the downhill at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Johnson's part of the next generation of American racers ready to follow in the footsteps of Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, who are both now retired after decorated careers.

Her crash put that on hold.

Johnson was practicing her super-G turns on Sept. 3, 2018, in Chile when she hooked an edge on the side of a hill and fell. Torn ACL. There went her season.

She chronicled the steps of her rehab journey in a series she called "Patient Notes." It revealed her thoughts and the physical toll.

Like this one when she realized she couldn't get back last season: "I lied. I lied to the people around me; I lied to the public; but most of all I lied to myself. I told the world that I wasn't going to race. But I wanted to. I planned to. ... I also think, while I am trying to be truly honest with myself, that it will be better for my skiing to wait."

Johnson took all the proper steps to get back. She made sure her knee was as strong as possible.

Then, another setback — to the other knee.

On June 13, she caught an edge in a training crash at Mammoth. Her social media post summed up her feelings: "Devastated, gutted, shattered."

Surgery to fix the knee was nearly two weeks later. More rounds of rehab .

She wasn't the only member of the U.S. speed team returning from injury. Alice McKennis and Jacqueline Wiles worked their back and are ready to race this season. It will be a little longer for Laurenne Ross , who's planning to miss this year as she recovers from a knee injury suffered last season.

But they're all eager to help carry the torch of American skiing alongside two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin , who's won three World Cup overall titles.

"We were really ready to pick up that mantle and carry U.S. women's speed forward," Johnson said. "Then, we all got injured. We were frustrated for that. But everybody is getting back and that's really amazing."

Johnson's target date for a World Cup training run is Jan. 23, 2020, in Bulgaria. If that goes well, maybe the downhill race a few days later. Or maybe a race the following week in Sochi.

That didn't seem possible after her recent injury. There was even some consideration she should sit out another season.

But that wasn't going to happen.

So, her medical team gave her a step-by-step outline:

Steps 1, 2, 3 — rehab emphasis following her surgery.

Steps 4, 5 — plyometrics.

Step 6a — modified training.

Step 6b — back to skiing.

Step 7 — return to gates.

Step 8 — ready to race.

Johnson said she's currently on "Step 6a" and moving toward returning to snow the week of Thanksgiving.

"There's this feeling when you're racing and your body's working at 100% and your brain's working at 100%and you're going down this race course and everything feels in sync," Johnson said. "It's a really incredible feeling."

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The state of Vermont did not provide adequate oversight to prevent the massive fraud that occurred in ski area and other development projects funded by foreign investors' money through a special visa program, a state audit has found.

The financial scandal first revealed in 2016, which became the state's largest fraud case, shook Vermont and the economically depressed region called the Northeast Kingdom.

In 2018, Vermont's former attorney general asked for an audit of the state's involvement in the projects at Jay Peak and Burke resorts to address the loss of trust in state government from the fraud, State Auditor Doug Hoffer wrote in the report released on Thursday. The audit was completed after the legal proceedings concluded, he wrote.

The findings should not be entirely surprising, Hoffer wrote.

“In short, we found a pattern of misplaced trust, unfortunate decision-making, lengthy delays, and missed opportunities to prevent or minimize fraud,” Hoffer wrote.

Ariel Quiros, a Miami businessman and former owner of two Vermont ski resorts, was sentenced in 2022 to five years in prison for his role in a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in Newport using tens of millions of dollars raised through the EB-5 visa program. Under the program, foreigners invest $500,000 in U.S. a project that creates at least 10 jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency. William Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak, and William Kelly, an advisor to Quiros, each got sentences of 18 months.

But the fraud encompassed seven other projects at Jay Peak and Burke resorts.

In 2016, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont alleged that Quiros and Stenger took part in a “massive eight-year fraudulent scheme.” The civil allegations involved misusing more than $200 million of about $400 million raised from foreign investors for various ski area developments through the EB-5 visa program “in Ponzi-like fashion.”

In a Ponzi scheme, money provided by new investors is used to pay high returns to early-stage investors to suggest the enterprise is prosperous. The scheme collapses when required redemptions exceed new investments.

Quiros and Stenger settled civil charges with the SEC, with Quiros surrendering more than $80 million in assets, including the two resorts. In the seven projects at Jay Peak and Burke, “construction was done but not always to the specifications or at the costs told to the investors. Significant funds were simply misused,” the report said.

Under the EB-5 program, the federal government designates regional centers to promote economic growth and oversee and monitor sponsored projects, the report states. Most regional centers are privately owned but the Vermont Regional Center was state government-run.

The center, which was the EB-5 office within the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, had competing duties: to market and promote EB-5 projects and to regulate them, the auditor's report states.

"Experts and policymakers have long warned against such arrangements for fear that an agency relied upon to help a project succeed may be reluctant to exercise its regulatory powers. In addition, a marketing office may not have the skill sets needed to properly regulate complex financial arrangements such as EB-5. Unfortunately, this proved all too true at ACCD,” the report states.

Last July, the state of Vermont agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle all pending and potential lawsuits from foreign investors in the development projects.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is still determining the immigration status of the Jay Peak and Burke investors, Goldstein wrote. At least 424 of 564 Jay Peak investors have already received green cards and the state is working to increase the chances that many more do, she wrote.

FILE - The water park at Jay Peak resort in Jay, Vt., April 18, 2016. A state audit has concluded Thursday, March 28, 2024, that Vermont did not provide adequate oversight to prevent the massive fraud that occurred in ski area and other development projects funded by foreign investors' money through a special visa program. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File)