American · Hanover, New Hampshire, USA · Born 26 February 1986American moguls skier who won Olympic gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games by denying a Canadian gold medal on home snow, going on to set a record 16-race World Cup winning streak.
Hannah Kearney was born on 26 February 1986 in Hanover, New Hampshire, and grew up in Norwich, Vermont, taking up skiing at age two. She became national junior moguls champion in 2002 and won her first World Cup victory in 2004 at just 17, before becoming a World Champion in moguls the following season. A gold medal favorite entering the 2006 Turin Olympics, Kearney had a poor qualifying run and failed to advance to the final, finishing 22nd overall. After recovering from a serious knee injury that sidelined her through much of 2007 and 2008, Kearney won her first World Cup season crystal globe in 2009. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, skiing last in the final as the top qualifier, she delivered a near-flawless run to defeat Canada's top-ranked Jennifer Heil - denying the host nation what would have been its first-ever home-soil gold medal - and won America's first gold medal of those Games, with teammate Shannon Bahrke taking bronze. Kearney then embarked on one of the most dominant stretches in freestyle skiing history, winning 16 consecutive World Cup races between January 2011 and February 2012 - a record across all disciplines that surpassed alpine great Ingemar Stenmark's previous mark - en route to her first overall World Cup title. Despite suffering broken ribs, a lacerated liver, and a punctured lung in a 2012 training crash, she recovered to add a bronze medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She retired in 2015 with 46 career World Cup wins, tying Donna Weinbrecht's women's record, and has since served on the IOC and FIS athlete commissions and mentored the next generation of American moguls skiers.
Winning Olympic moguls gold at Vancouver 2010, denying Canada its first home-soil gold medal, then setting a 16-race World Cup winning streak that broke an alpine skiing record
How They Played
Technically precise moguls skier known for exceptional consistency under pressure, capable of delivering peak performances in the most high-stakes finals
Lasting Impact
Regarded as one of the greatest moguls skiers in history, whose dominant World Cup winning streak and recovery from a life-threatening training injury exemplified sustained excellence in the discipline
Career Honours
- 1x Olympic Gold Medalist, Moguls (2010); 1x Olympic Bronze (2014)
- Record 16 consecutive World Cup victories (all disciplines)
- 46 career World Cup wins - tied for the women's moguls record
- 8x World Championship Medalist
American Athletes