American Breezy Johnson turned on the afterburners to scorch to a shock gold in the women's downhill at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach on Saturday, while returning veteran teammate Lindsey Vonn finished 15th.

Johnson, with just seven World Cup podiums to her name, clocked 1min 41.29sec down the 2.9km-long Ulli Maier course in front of 15,000 raucous, flag-waving spectators in the Austrian resort.

"I made some mistakes. I knew it was not perfect, but when I crossed line, I saw the time and said 'Amaaazing!'," said a tearful Johnson.

"I felt the pressure. I could not sleep and lay in bed to rest a little bit. When I get nervous it's because I have a shot at this thing -- it is a positive to go out there and ski like you can."

Austria's Mirjam Puchner took silver, at 0.15sec, with Czech all-rounder Ester Ledecka claiming bronze (+0.21).

Vonn, in her 21st world championship start, came down in 1:43.25 to the delight of the crowd, unable to press her claims for a ninth world championship medal at her ninth champs.

A fan favourite in Austria due to her fluent command of German, Vonn blew kisses as she exited after her impressive top-15 finish.

She retired after a downhill bronze at the 2019 Are worlds, but made a comeback this season at the age of 40 after a knee reconstruction that she said had left her pain-free for the first time in years.

What made Johnson's victory all the more remarkable was that the 29-year-old was the first out of the start hut in brilliant, sunny conditions in the Austrian resort.

- Rare bib number one success -

Such is that a rarity that Patrick Ortlieb is the only other racer to have won a global title wearing number one, the Austrian taking the Olympic men's downhill title in 1992.

Hurtling down into Saalbach at speeds of 140km/h and negotiating jumps of up to 38 metres, Johnson best negotiated the compressions on an icy, circuitous terrain that proved to be far more testing than many pundits – and racers – had predicted pre-race.

Many skiers were pulled apart by two sweeping turns coming into the finish area, losing valuable seconds by sliding slightly wide on the transitions.

Johnson's previous best world champs result was a ninth in the downhill in Cortina in 2021, while she was seventh in the discipline in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, having missed the 2022 Beijing Games through injury.

There was disappointment for Italy as Nicol Delago, super-G silver medallist Federica Brignone and 2018 Olympic downhill gold medallist Sofia Goggia, who also won silver in Beijing in 2022, came in eighth, 10th and 16th respectively in a 33-strong field.

"That was one of the worst runs of my career," said Goggia.

"It was really dififcult from the second turn to understand the line, there was always something missing today, but I am not as angry as I was after the super-G.

"We knew the course would suit Breezy and Puchner."

Super-G winner Stephanie Venier of Austria was ninth, at 0.99sec, while teammate Cornelia Huetter was fourth (+0.34).

There was a late charge by Germany's Emma Aicher that saw her lead up top before wilting, albeit finishing a very creditable sixth, just behind American Lauren Macuga, who won joint bronze in the super-G.

Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami had a day to forget, skiing out.

lp/ea