Kearney wins duals gold at World Championships for first time

KREISCHBERG, Austria – Olympic champion Hannah Kearney stepped it up another notch on Monday, taking gold in dual moguls in a thrilling finals matchup against Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe. It was Kearney’s eighth career World Championships medal, the most ever of any freestyle skier.

After skiing to a silver medal in the single moguls competition, Kearney reviewed her performance and set tactical goals for the duals competition.

“I had it as my goal to win the qualifying runs so I would have my pick of the course,” said Kearney. “It helps you focus because you only have to look at one side of the course. I also went to a helicopter on the bottom air instead of a heli mute grab because it allowed me to ski a little bit faster and have a better landing.”

Dufour-Lapointe finished second and Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva was third.

USSA President and CEO Tiger Shaw, who has known Kearney for years, was also thrilled with the result.

“This is incredible. For Hannah, this makes her the most decorate freestyle skier as far as World Championships go,” said Shaw. “I’ve known Hannah a long time and to see her pull this off and make this achievement is amazing.”

The U.S. men battled it out against a tough line up of Canadian skiers, but were unable to find the podium.

“Sho (Kashima) showed up this morning and he was ready to charge. He carried through the whole day,” said head moguls coach Garth Hager. “When he’s on, he’s a performer and he’s hard to beat. Unfortunately he a had a little mishap when he switched courses. He got behind out of the gate and had to push speed, and it got too fast for him.”

Kashima ultimately finished fourth behind a Canadian podium sweep including men’s winner Mikael Kingsbury, runner-up Philippe Marquis, and bronze medalist Marc-Antoine Gagnon.

Coming into Kreischberg, Kearney had not yet captured a World Championships win in the duals competition. She now has that golden snowflake and a new record on her resume.

“It’s really cool. It’s a testament to my strength over a long period of time,” said Kearney. “It was ten years ago that I got my first World Championships medal, and to continue to come back and fight and walk away with eight medals—three gold—that’s a nice necklace.”