March 12, 2010
Kearney wins World Cup moguls event
by PR Wire Report/
Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) won a World Cup women's moguls event on Friday. (photo: Getty Images)
In a virtual replay of the Olympic women's moguls event a month ago, Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) returned to the World Cup to win, with Canada's Jenn Heil second and Olympic bronze medalist Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, Calif.) third.
After a month-long break from skiing, Kearney found herself in a similar situation to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Like the Olympics, Kearney sat in the No. 1 spot after qualifying on Thursday. Standing at the top of the course, Kearney knew that Heil had laid down a great run, holding on to the first place position as competitor after competitor went down.
"I was in first place after qualifying, but Jenn Heil had a much better second run. She stayed in first place as my other teammates, Heather and Shannon, went down," explained Kearney in a U.S. Ski Team press release. "I knew I needed to ski a good run, a similar situation to the Olympics."
Kearney's break proved to be a smart move. She threw a back lay out off the first jump and a helicopter off the second along with the fastest time for the women. Kearney's near perfect run bumped Heil into second and Bahrke to third, identical to the Olympics.
"I have been training this sport for so long that it comes back pretty quickly. It's just like riding a bike," said Kearney. "Maybe the time off was actually really helpful and beneficial."
On the men’s side, Jeremy Cota (Carrabassett Valley, Maine) was 11th, Michael Morse (Duxbury, Mass.) was 12th, David Digravio (Farmington, Maine) was 13th and David Babic (Washington, Vt.) was 23rd.
