A Champion's Next Challenge: At 29, Norwich's Hannah Kearney Makes the Leap ... - Valley News
It begins two time zones away with the resumption of school, picking up what was essentially set aside more than a decade ago, when the mountain became the classroom, where the student — over time — became the teacher. Norwich’s Hannah Kearney is a competitive moguls skier no more. She closed a 13-year professional career on March 27 with a win at the U. S. Freestyle Championships in Colorado. A FIS World Cup dual moguls win in France 12 days earlier was the cake, a victory that cemented a share of a significant record and secured Kearney’s spot as one of this nation’s greatest ski athletes. Sitting at a picnic table on a sun-splashed afternoon last week, the 29-year-old said her life isn’t coming to a full stop just because her competitive years are done. And then there’s school, the continuation of a college education started with part-time studies at Dartmouth College four years ago. Kearney has enrolled at Salt Lake City’s Westminster College, which offers tuition-free studies for U. S. Ski Team athletes who enroll in a class before they retire from the slopes. She’s had 13 winters — from her World Cup debut as a driven teenager through six FIS moguls championships, four more overall freestyle titles, a record-tying 46 World Cup victories and three Olympics, two of which netted medals — to anticipate and... Source: www.vnews.com
