Kearney Clinches Overall Moguls World Cup Title in Sweden
ARE, Sweden (Mar. 12) – Olympic Champion Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) clinched the FIS Freestyle World Cup overall title with a victory in dual moguls Saturday in Are, Sweden. It was her eighth World Cup win of the season.
"It wasn’t always perfect, but I’m proud of my performance," said Kearney of her championship season. "It feels really good."
Kearney is the first American to win the World Cup overall since Jeremy Bloom topped the standings in 2005. Her road to victory Saturday exemplifies the type of athlete and competitor Kearney is.
For the qualifying run, athletes are randomly assigned a course lane. In Friday’s individual moguls World Cup more than 80% of the skiers skied the same line. Kearney, whose lane preference was in that majority, was assigned to the other lane for her qualifying run.
"They assigned me to the other course," said Kearney, who qualified for the finals in fifth. "I had a shaky qualification run, very slow too, which is not a good sign for duals."
The U.S. women had five athletes qualify for Saturday’s finals, unfortunately four of the five were paired against one another in the first round. Kearney was paired against teammate Kayla Snyderman (Winchester, MA), with Heather McPhie (Bozeman, MT) and Heidi Kloser (Vail, CO) the other round one pairing.
After moving past Snyderman, Kearney knocked out Eliza Outtrim (Steamboat Springs, CO) in the quarterfinals. The semifinals proved the toughest for Kearney. Her run was not perfect, but with a score of 18-17, Kearney advanced to the finals. It was in the finals where Kearney skied her best run of the day, topping Justine Dufour-LaPointe of Canada with a score of 23-12.
"I was the fastest skier in all my duals," said Kearney. "Which was one of my main goals."
"Her [Kearney] performance today was very impressive," said Head Coach Scott Rawles. "After having clinched the World Cup title [moguls] yesterday, you might think there would be a bit of a let down, but she really got it done at the end."
"This whole weekend was really nice,”"said Keaney. "It takes a lot of energy to win two events in a row."
World Cup competition moves to Myrkalen-Voss, Norway Mar. 20 for the final event of the season. The top athletes, based on overall rankings, are brought together to compete in dual moguls competition.
OFFICIAL RESULTS FIS Freestyle World Cup Are, Sweden – Mar. 12, 2011 Dual Moguls
Women 1. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT 2. Justine Dufour-LaPointe, Canada 3. Jennifer Heil, Canada - 5. Heather McPhie, Bozeman, MT 6. Eliza Outtrim, Steamboat Springs, CO 13. Kayla Snyderman, Winchester, MA 15. Heidi Kloser, Vail, CO
For complete results: http://www.fis-ski.com/
Women 1. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT, 90.90 2. Jennifer Heil, Canada, 63.20 3. Shuang Cheng, China, 63.14 # # #
