USA’s David Wise Repeats as Gold Medalist in Men’s Ski Halfpipe

David Wise won gold after crashing on his first two runs.

American freestyle skier David Wise came through in the clutch to compete as gold medalist in the men’s halfpipe. 

Wise crashed on each of his first two runs but threw down an almost flawless third and final run to vault ahead of fellow American Alex Ferreira into gold medal position. Ferreira scored a 96 on his second run but Wise came through with a 97.20. 

Ferreira had a similarly impressive run in his last turn down the pipe but only managed to improve to 96.40, not enough to overtake Wise for gold. 

Curiously, New Zealand’s Nico Porteous was in second before Wise’s run and didn’t attempt to improve on his 94.80, just skating calmly down the pipe. The 16-year-old was bumped to bronze after Wise’s strong performance. 

Wise, a four-time X-Games gold medalist, won the inaugural halfpipe competition in Sochi four years ago.