Kevin Mahaney won a silver medal as a skipper in Soling at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Mahaney was North American Champion in 1990 and 1991 and was runner-up at the Olympic Practice Regatta in 1991. He also placed second at the 1991 European Match Racing Championships. In 1995 Mahaney founded and skippered Young America, an America’s Cup yacht that entered the challenger series but did not make it to the America’s Cup races.
Mahaney graduated from Middlebury College and then earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. He later worked in finance. In 2005 Mahaney rode the entire route of the 2005 Tour de France (2,241 miles [3,615 km]) to help raise money for multiple sclerosis and cancer research, benefiting the Tyler Hamilton Foundation (multiple sclerosis) and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (cancer).