Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs celebrates Breezy Johnson's world downhill title weeks after return from 14-month suspension

Serena Williams's ex-coach Rennae Stubbs has taken to social media to congratulate compatriot skier Breezy Johnson who has captured a stunning gold medal in the women's downhill event at the Alpine World Championships in Wengen, Switzerland. Johnson lived up to her personal motto - "Like the wind" - when she flew down the famous Hundschopf course at 138kph, the fastest time ever recorded by a female skier.

The 38-yard jump equaled that of the male skiers giving her a 0.15-second victory over silver medalist Mirjam Puchner of Austria and 0.21s ahead of bronze medalist Ester Ledecká. Stubbs barely contained her excitement at Johnson's first-ever victory and shared a post by the US skiing team on her Instagram story.

"Way to go!!!! @breezyjohnsonski. Huge congrats to you and your entire team! The team is killin' it!" Serena Williams's ex-coach wrote.

Screengrab of Rennae Stubbs's Instagram story (@rennaestubbs)

Stubbs is a former professional tennis player, coach, and commentator. A former No. 1 in the WTA's doubles rankings, the American picked up four Major doubles titles in the early 2000s. Since hanging up her racket, she worked as a tennis analyst at the Seven Network from 2011 to 2018 before switching to ESPN where she's become one of their foremost pundits.

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Serena Williams's ex-coach Rennae Stubbs has played and coached at the top level of her sport

Rennae Stubbs coached Serena Williams when the 23-time Major singles champion competed at her final Grand Slam, the 2022 US Open. She also coached Karolina Pliskova and oversaw Samantha Stosur's 2021 U.S. Open doubles win with playing partner Zhang Shuai. She is the host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast". She is also a well-known liberal voice and LGBTQIA+ activist, so she has much in common with Breezy Johnson, who came out as bisexual in 2022.

Johnson's declaration prefaced a difficult couple of years for her professionally - she'd shown huge promise with three second-place finishes in World Cups before a knee injury ruled her out of the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Then, her return to competition was thwarted by a 14-month ban when she failed to comply with "whereabouts" rules, missing three random anti-doping checks.

During her absence, which ended two months ago, Johnson wasn't allowed to train with the USA team, making her gold medal win all the more impressive. Stubbs's shoutout, being a major supporter of US women's sports, is unsurprising given the American skier's dramatic comeback.