WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Hannah Kearney, who carried an Olympic disappointment with her for four years, won the gold medal Saturday in women's freestyle skiing moguls.
Kearney, defending world champion at the time, botched her qualifying run at the Turin Games in 2006 and did not even make the finals of an event she had hoped to dominate.
Instead, the gold on that occasion went to Jennifer Heil of Canada, who returned Saturday with the home crowd behind her as she tried to win the first gold medal for her country at the Vancouver Games.
This time, it was Kearney who came out on top. Kearney had the best qualifying score and then, as the final competitor on a foggy, rainy evening, turned in a near-perfect run down the moguls course to claim the title.
Kearney had a score of 26.63 for her championship run and Heil turned in a score of 25.69.
Shannon Bahrke of the United States finished third with a score of 25.43. Bahrke won the silver medal in this event eight years ago in Salt Lake City.
Only twice during the opening day of Olympic competition did a nation win two medals in the same event and both times it was done by the United States. Americans finished second and third in the men's 1,500-meter short-track skating event.
