Olympic moguls gold medalist Hannah Kearney has been at it so long she knows when exactly something goes wrong, and Wednesday afternoon a freezing run at Deer Valley Resort, one mishap cost her freestyle World Championship gold.
“I missed my grab on my bottom air, and therefore, the trick was incomplete and the score reflected that,” she said. “But, you can look on the bright side; it’s still a silver medal win with a mistake.”
Kearney (24.31) was beaten out by Canadian star Jennifer Heil (24.35), who bested the American by a grand total of .04 points in Wednesday’s women’s mogul finals.
“I’ve had a ton of trouble off that bottom air all week,” Kearney said. “It was hideous. So, all things considered, it’s OK. But it only counts in the competition and I was close, and that what makes it so much more bitter.”
Heil and Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) were joined at the podium by Heil’s teammate, Kristi Richards, who finished with a score of 23.71 for the bronze.
As an 18-year-old Olympic rookie, Heil’s first trip to the Olympic Games were right here in Park City in 2002 and she named Deer Valley as her favorite resort in the world.
“I love it here,” she said.
Heil missed the podium at the Salt Lake Games by 100th of a point. The 27-year-old who plans to retire from the World Cup circuit at the end of the season, defeated her top competitor over the last several years in Kearney as a final farewell at Deer Valley.
“I was standing at the top of the course and I heard Hannah’s score. I knew I had to lay it down and lay down a great one,” Heil said. “I had a great talk with my coach this week about skiing with all my heart, finding that passion and enjoying every turn and that’s what I feel like I did.”
Kearney was the one standing in Heil’s way at last year’s Olympics in Vancouver. The American took home the gold.
“This sport will not be the same without Jen in it. We have a great rivalry,” Kearney said. “It’s all about competing against yourself and the entire world, but when there’s a face to the competition and it’s that close, it does make it exciting.”
When asked how close she was to finishing her trick which may have ensured a gold medal, Kearney said it was as close as it gets.
“I was close,” she said. “My finger touched (the ski), but I didn’t grab it.”
Heil may have gotten the last laugh in the friendly rivalry with Kearney, and the Canadian star knows what she’s going to miss.
“It would be nice to be an Olympian forever,” she said. “That’s for sure.”
Americans Eliza Outtrim (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) finished fifth overall with 23.17 points and local resident Heather McPhie (Bozeman, Mont.) finished sixth overall with 22.65 points.
In the men’s race, Frenchman Guilbaut Colas dominated the moguls, finishing with a high of 26.26 and a gold medal to his name.
The Canadian duo of Alexandre Bilodeau (second, 25.66) and Mikael Kingsbury (third, 25.57) rounded out the medal winners. American Jeremy Cota (Carrrasbassett Valley, Maine) came in fourth, while teammates Patrick Deneen (Cle Elum, Wash.) finished sixth and Joseph Discoe (Telluride, Colo.) was 13th.
Discoe, who was in the lead at one point, said the bumps were particularly hard with the subzero temperatures.
“I tried to launch it as big as I could to impress the judges somehow,” he said.