“When I look back four years ago, it feels like it was a lifetime ago,’’ said Kearney, who grew up and continues to train in Norwich, Vt. “I am a pretty different athlete and person now. When I look back, I see a 19-year-old who was deemed the favorite, but really wasn’t . . . I was thinking, ‘Oh, OK, I’ve won a world championship, maybe I’ll just win the gold medal.’ I was certainly trying to win, but I hadn’t taken all the necessary steps to do that.’’

After winning the World Cup title last year and finishing first at the US Olympic trials, Kearney is again considered a top medal contender. But when the moguls competition takes place tonight at Cypress Mountain, she will be well prepared mentally and physically. Since Turin, Kearney has become a more consistent, more focused, and more mature competitor. She has been toughened by injuries after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament and concussion. She has been tested by financial difficulties when the US moguls team temporarily lost funding last season.

If Kearney or one of her teammates - Heather McPhie, Shannon Bahrke, or Michelle Roark - win gold, the host country will be bitterly disappointed. Canadian Jennifer Heil is the defending 2006 gold medalist and the favorite to repeat. If Heil wins tonight, she will be the first Canadian to win gold at a home Olympics. The Canadians failed to win gold at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal or the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

With Heil competing under an unenviable amount of pressure, she may leave the opening wider for the Americans to win, especially Kearney. While all Canada dreamed of gold for Heil, Kearney worked toward the same goal just south of the border in Vermont.

“When you’re on a run in the middle of the summer and you feel like you’re going to pass out, you imagine a gold medal around your neck and you keep going,’’ said Kearney. “That’s why I’m going to the Olympics. I’m in a better place this time. I would like to ski my best. The best way to achieve gold is to ski your best.’’

Less obvious, injury helped the 5-foot-6-inch Kearney learn to train and compete better. Coming back from the torn ACL suffered in February 2007, Kearney adopted a more sport-specific workout regimen. Before then, she had succeeded largely because of her athleticism. Kearney half-joked that she trained for Turin by hanging out with friends and playing soccer. Her natural ability led to high school state soccer and track championships and a spot on the US Ski Team at 16, but it wouldn’t automatically get her gold. She learned that the hard way.

“After 2006, I wasn’t sure whether I was doing [moguls] because I made the team and it worked out or because I really wanted to be doing it,’’ said Kearney. “When I got hurt, I got to be home and satisfy my need for homemaking and being in one place. I was happy about that, but at the same time it totally motivated me to get back to the sport. The absence from the sport makes you realize how much you want to do it and how much effort you need to put into it if you want to do it well.’’

The hardest work often takes place in her hometown. An admitted homebody, Kearney does most of her offseason training in Norwich. She lives in the house where she grew up, which her father built. She credits drills done as a kid in tricky New England ski conditions with making her turns her greatest strength in moguls.

With regard to mental preparation for Vancouver, Kearney now knows what to expect during the Games. In Turin, nerves made Kearney physically ill with a fever and muscle aches for a week. Also, she knows how to put past performances in proper perspective.

When asked if her 2009 World Cup title gave her an advantage, Kearney said, “For the offseason, it sort of motivated me because I knew everyone would be gunning for me. It’s always going to give me confidence, but it really doesn’t mean anything now. That season is over. I’m very proud of myself, but you can’t rest on your laurels.’’

With one perfect run Kearney can put her disappointing Olympic history to rest and replace it with more triumphant memories.

Shira Springer can be reached at springer@globe.com.