Hannah Kearney: NH Olympian

Being deeply rooted in our local community and as the premier ski shop in NH, we at Ken Jones Ski Mart are always proud when a local athlete puts on display their amazing skills before an international audience. Hannah Kearney, born in Hannover, NH and raised just a bit up north in Norwich, VT, took home the gold medal in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver for freestyle skiing. And now, she plans on doing it again.

At Colorado’s Wolf Creek resort, Hannah and the rest of the U.S. ski team are currently in the middle of preseason training. Hannah, 27, has been ruthlessly training and dominating in the freestyle mogul finals during Pre-Olympic test events. She’s announced that this year’s Sochi Winter Olympics will be her last so is working overtime to bring home a second gold medal. According to the U.S. ski team’s website, Hannah says, “I am very excited for the opportunity to try to earn a spot on the 2014 Olympic Team, so that I can represent the United States in Sochi. I would like a chance to defend my title and soak up my last Olympic appearance.”

Since her gold medal win in 2010, Kearney has earned her first freestyle overall title, a second moguls crown, her third and fourth World Championship medals, became World Champion again in the 2013 single moguls in Voss, Norway, received a bronze Worlds medal in duals, took the win in the Lake Placid World cup stop, and had an unprecedented winning streak when she took 16 consecutive World Cup victories during the 2011-2012 season.

The Road to Her Second Gold Medal

She managed to attain all of these titles despite an early World Cup injury. However, with her innate New England toughness, Kearney overcame the injuries and has remained focused on representing NH and the U.S. in the Sochi Olympic Winter games. While executing a massive back flip, Kearney crashed and was left with two fractured ribs, a bruised liver, and other injuries that kept her from participating in many of the World Cup challenges leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. In an interview with the Valley News, Kearney said about perfecting her back flip, “The first back flip on that same jump that caused the injury, I was very nervous, but getting that over with I came full circle. A year after the accident, I felt I was improving again and I was no longer afraid. It’s a great feeling.”

With four hard years of preparation for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Kearney is at the top of the list of hopeful gold medal winners for the U.S. ski team. With her equipment provided by Marker, Oakley, and Volkl skis, she’ll be well armed with the most up to date tools of the trade in order to tackle the challenge of Sochi. With her Oakley sponsorship, Kearney will be sporting her Oakley airbrakes, which you can find at Ken Jones ski shop in Manchester, NH. So join us in rallying behind another NH native representing the U.S. at this year’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Exemplifying the, “Live Free or Die,” mentality that we NH natives thrive on, Kearney told the Valley News, “When you’re upside-down on skis, you’d be stupid if you’re not afraid. You do what you can to manage the fear, do as much training as you can, get better at that skill. There will always be fear, but it doesn’t have to be in a negative way.”