Are, Sweden – Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney, of Norwich, Vt., clinched her second World Cup moguls title with a win Friday in Are, Sweden. It was Kearney’s seventh win of the season. Alexandre Bilodeau won the men’s event to lead a three-medal day for the Canadians.nKearney has become the definition of consistency this season, winning all World Cup individual moguls events and two of the four dual moguls World Cups with three podium finishes. She has been on the podium in all but one event this season.

“That has been my goal all year long,” said Kearney about winning the World Cup moguls title for the second time. “It is really satisfying.”

After qualifying first, Kearney stuck with her routine package, throwing a back layout off the first hit and a big heli off the bottom jump. Her airs, along with her quick, tight turns and smooth style, were exactly what the judges wanted, rewarding her with a score of 26.33.

“I was pleased with my first run, but after hearing Jen Heil’s [of Canada] score, which was nice and high, I didn’t want to get complacent. So I skied aggressively,” explained a modest Kearney. “My jumps were not perfect. I left room for improvement there, but it was enough. I am really happy with the way I competed today.”

Kearney is quick to point out that there are areas of her skiing that still need work. Her mindset does not allow her to look back at the season and say she is skiing perfectly. She analyzes each race, breaks it down by section to find where she can improve and then works on those specifics. It is this self awareness and desire to both win and improve that has kept Kearney on top of the podium for the entire season.

“Hannah has been incredibly consistent at a very high level all year,” said U.S. Ski Team head moguls coach, Scott Rawles. “In the back of her mind, I think she wanted to finish off the World Cup. That was her main goal of the year and she accomplished that.”

Heil, originally from Spruce Grove, Alberta but now living in Montreal, took Friday’s silver medal. Heil has already announced her plans to retire from the World Cup circuit following the current season.

“I came out here to push it for my last three World Cups and that’s what I did today,” Heil said. “I think I performed just shy of a great run. I could have been more dynamic on my turns, but I had my best 360 of the season.”

Heil said that she appreciated the tough course in Are. “The organizers are amazing and they really know how to build a mogul site. I think in general we haven’t seen enough true mogul courses this season, they’ve been more like tracks, the course here is what the standard should be and it’s nice to get back to this kind of skiing. I also think it really shows Canada’s talent that we can continue to achieve excellent results on a variety of courses.”

Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., joined Kearney on the podium Friday in third for her first World Cup podium of the season. She had the fastest time in the finals.

“She was relaxed and really let it go, and did a great job,” said Rawles.

In men’s action Friday, Montreal’s Bilodeau followed his first place qualification run with a fast and smooth final run to give him the gold with a score of 26.17. France’s Guilbaut Colas was second with the fastest run of the day and a score of 25.80 to retain his lead in the World Cup standings. Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, of Deux Montagnes, Quebec, encountered difficulty on his top jump and landed in third 25.36.

“The moguls here are a bit bigger than we’ve seen all season, and they’re firm – like we ski in Quebec – I think that gave me an edge because I could really showcase my absorption technique,” said Bilodeau, who is sitting third to Colas and Kingsbury in the overall standings.

Kingsbury liked the course, too, but he was disappointed that a small mistake in the landing of his top jump threw him a little off-balance. “I wish I had done it clean like I did in training,” he said.

For the U.S. men, Friday was a bit of a struggle. Carrabassett Valley, Maine’s Jeremy Cota and Joe Discoe, of Telluride, Colo., were fourth and fifth, respectively, after the qualifying run. In their final runs, Discoe went off course and was unable to finish. Cota was not as clean as in qualifiers, finishing eighth. David DiGravio, of Farmington, Maine, also made the finals finishing ninth.

The World Cup moguls season ends next week in Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Are, Sweden – Mar. 11, 2011
Moguls

Men
1. Alexandre Bilodeau, Canada, 26.17
2. Guilbaut Colas, France, 25.80
3. Mikael Kingsbury, Canada, 25.36

Women
1. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT, 26.33
2. Jennifer Heil, Canada, 25.61
3. Heather McPhie, Bozeman, MT, 25.08