The 23-year old Hannah Kearney (USA) from Norwich, Vermont won her first Olympic Gold medal on Saturday in Women’s Moguls. Hannah Kearney finished with the fastest time down hill in both qualifying and in the finals.
Prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kearney won moguls gold in her world champion debut at the 2005 Worlds in Ruka, Finland, setting the stage for the 2006 Torino Games. However, her Olympic debut ended with a disappointing 22nd-place finish.
Following her Olympic debut in 2006 at Torino, in February 2007, Kearney tore her ACL during training and missed the remainder of the 2006-07 season, including the 2007 World Championships. But she actually came to see a beneficial side to the injury. "I was feeling slightly burnt out on the lifestyle, living out of a suitcase," Kearney says. "And so, when I tore my ACL, it actually became the most refreshing break I could have asked for." Following surgery, Kearney lived at home for several months, and returned refreshed. "I came back just with a better attitude, and stronger than I’ve ever been." She was slowed for a significant part of the 2007-08 season while recovering from a concussion but assesses the 2008-09 campaign as the most successful she has ever had.
Kearney finished the finals round with a total score of 26.63 to get the gold medal, while the previous gold medalist, Jennifer Heil (CAN) finished with a score of 25.69 for the silver medal and Shannon Bahrke (USA) finished with a score 25.43 for the bronze medal.
For a complete listing of Women’s Moguls participants visit NBCOLYMPICS.COM your home for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In addition, if you are curious about the medal count, head on over to our home page and check out our “Medal Tracker” courtesy of NBCOLYMPICS.COM.
lastly, you can watch as Hannah Kearney wins the gold medal by using the player located on our home page or you can view it here via our streaming video player courtesy of Radical Web Designs.
We will be covering moments like this all week long, we hope you enjoy our coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The 23-year old Hannah Kearney (USA) from Norwich, Vermont won her first Olympic Gold medal on Saturday in Women’s Moguls. Hannah Kearney finished with the fastest time down hill in both qualifying and in the finals. 
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