Medals update: Kiwi Nico Porteous dethrones David Wise for men’s halfpipe crown

New Zealand’s Nico Porteous spun best and highest among the 12 men’s halfpipe athletes at a frigid Genting Snow Park in the final event of the freestyle skiing program at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Beijing.

Americans David Wise (the two-time and defending Olympic champion) and Alex Ferreira finished with the silver and bronze respectively in a best-run-of-three competition that showcased all of the world’s top-ten male halfpipe freeskiers.

The finals were hampered by unpredictable wind gusts and the morning’s first three skiers fell. But the conditions seemed to have no negative impact on New Zealand’s Nico Porteous – bronze medal-winner from PyeongChang – who opened up a huge lead over the rest of the field with his first run.

With back-to-back 1620s and a stylish alley-oop flatspin 900, Porteous knocked defending Olympic halfpipe champion Wise out of top spot with a massive score of 93.00 to set the marker high heading into rounds two and three.

The increasing winds and plummeting temperatures took a toll on the second round of runs as all but two skiers (Noah Bowman of Canada and Team USA’s Aaron Blunck) failed to improve on their first-run scores.

Porteous was on top of the standings heading into the third and final run – followed by USA’s Wise in second and his teammate Ferreira in third. And there were to be no changes to the top three as visibility and wind continued to impact the skiing.

Porteous added gold to the historic bronze he won in PyeongChang four years ago.

For Wise (with the silver), it’s a third Olympic freeski halfpipe medal and a first that’s not gold. Ferreira added a bronze to the silver he won in PyeongChang.

This men’s halfpipe finals brought the curtain down on the freeski programme of these